Hidden Truths
by lucyhoneychurch
Summary: In a sequel to 'Glamours,' Willow faces new problems and situations as Harry returns, and they have to defeat Voldemort before he defeats them. (I suck at summaries. Just read it.....)
1. Default Chapter

Chapter 1- Interruptions, Arrivals, and Realizations of a Delicate Nature  
  
Remus Lupin was anxious. Not more than a half hour ago, Dumbledore had contacted him and told him to go to Godric's Hollow. He had agreed because he saw no reason not to. It wasn't until he had gotten there and had been wandering the grounds for five minutes that he had discovered why he was there. Indeed, Tonks had scared the living daylights out of him when she had apparated directly behind him.  
  
"Merlin, Tonks, you scared me!" he chuckled, heart beating quickly from not only the scare. It was true, he and Tonks had been flirting on the edge of a physical relationship for years, only being put on hold when Harry had died several months ago. Slowly though, it was coming back.  
  
"Sorry Remus," Tonks smiled warmly. "Didn't mean to. You excited for tonight? If Willow's right, we should have Harry and Sirius back soon...."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Remus furrowed his brow in shocked confusion. "Dumbledore just told me to show up here. What's Willow trying?"  
  
Tonks suddenly took on a less teasing attitude. She knew that this news would be beyond a shock for her friend that she so desperately wanted to be more. "She thinks they're still alive. She's doing a spell tonight. That's why we're here. If she's right, they should appear in the spot they fell into the Veil at. Kingsley and Arthur Weasley are in the Department of Mysteries right now waiting for Sirius."  
  
Remus gave her an incredulous look. "Willow's doing the spell? In her condition? She's due any day now...." Indeed, he was truly shocked that she would try something like this now. But she HAD been particularly moody lately....pregnancy had not set well on Willow in that regard. Remus couldn't count how many times in the last months that he had visited the Burrow and watched her verbally snap at people, angry one moment, in tears the next. Who knew what sort of bad decisions she was making at this point? Remus just hoped that this spell wasn't one of them.  
  
Tonks nodded. "I stopped by the Burrow before I came here. Molly says she thinks it'll be sometime this week with the way Willow's been carrying the baby. But in regards to this spell...Willow doesn't care. You know how much she wants Harry back."  
Remus nodded sadly. He had never seen someone grieve so completely as when he had attended Harry's funeral months ago. Willow had been a mess. She was weepy and emotional and to add insult to injury, her morning sickness had finally emerged that afternoon with a vengeance, sending her to the restroom at the funeral home to vomit once during the service, and twice more to the downstairs bathroom during the reception at the Burrow. Molly had finally taken pity on Harry's young widow and sent her to bed with a mug of ginger tea and a headache potion. Remus remembered how he had been the one to escort her upstairs, and then ended up staying with her as she sipped her tea quietly and listened as he told her tale after tale from Harry's younger years.  
  
Silently, he motioned for Tonks to have a seat with him on the lush grass that covered the area where Godric's Hollow once stood. Tonks rolled her eyes in exasperation before transfiguring a blade of grass into a large and plush couch and sat, motioning for Remus to join her.  
  
He did, sighing in delight as the soft piece of furniture cushioned his tired body. "Did Albus drag you out of bed too, or had you even tried to sleep?"  
  
Tonks looked at him and glared in memory. "Yes. The old man dragged me out of bed too. Why Remus, why couldn't she do this at a decent hour, like 2 in the afternoon?"  
  
Remus shrugged, leaning back on the couch and absentmindedly conjuring butterbeers for the two of them. "Don't know. Might have had to do it at midnight maybe." He checked his watch. It was now one in the morning. "Or she just might be crazy." He handed one of the butterbeers to Tonks.  
  
Tonks took it gratefully and took a swig before responding to Remus' comment. "I'll take crazy. Must be the hormones."  
  
"Just don't tell that to her," Remus laughed, remembering the time that one of the twins had made a comment to Willow's face about her shifting hormones and equally shifting moods. The boils hadn't gone down for a week.  
  
Tonks rolled her eyes. "I swear, if that's what pregnancy does to a girl, I'm never having children. It's just a whole lot of unnecessary work and pain." She took another drink of her butterbeer. "If you want children, you should just baby-sit or visit. It's the best of both worlds. You get to play with the kids, and then when they're all wound up, you pass them back to their parents and go home to your quiet flat."  
  
Remus cocked an eyebrow, amused at Tonks' attitude toward children. "I'll remind Willow not to let you baby-sit." He paused, thinking. Not settling down and having children was perhaps the one thing he regretted the most. Of course, with the restrictions of Werewolf activity from within the Ministry, this hadn't been an option for him as all werewolves were restricted from reproducing. Times had changed though. Severus Snape had spent the better part of the last 3 years working on a potion to cure lycanthropy and finally, last month, he had come up with a cure. Remus was now free of the curse that had plagued him his entire life but he feared that settling down was no longer an option. After all, he was 44 years old, relatively young for a wizard, but let's face it, he wasn't exactly the best at meeting people. No, Remus had come to terms with the fact that he would probably never have children, instead, choosing to stick close to the family he did have. Willow, Tonks, the Weasley's and of course, his friends at Hogwarts.  
  
An awkward silence fell over the two of them, neither knowing what to say or really having any desire to continue the conversation. Indeed, there was still a fair amount of sexual tension between the two, and the awkward silences that frequently occurred after they had decided to put their quasi- relationship on the back burner didn't help the situation. They looked up, stared at each other for a brief 30 seconds, the time spent apart over the last months suddenly becoming unbearable and out of nowhere, Tonks threw herself at Remus, throwing him back onto the couch and straddling his waist.  
  
Remus was shocked. This was neither the time nor the place. But Tonks had said they would have to wait for Harry's arrival, and he WAS bored. He groaned audibly as Tonks moved her lips down to his throat and kissed a sensitive spot. Perhaps this waiting wasn't so bad after all.  
  
Willow was tired. Indeed, the rest of her baby's delivery- Molly had informed her that she must have been in labour all day from the sounds of the pains she had been plagued with- had taken 5 hours more from the time that Draco and Ron had helped her into the house to the actual arrival of the child.  
  
And what a child it was. It had been a boy, one that had apparently inherited his looks from Harry, as he already had a full head of black hair and emerald green eyes. Willow had named him James Alexander after Harry's father, and Xander Harris, her best friend. And now, as she held the baby close to her, watching as James ate his first meal at her breast, Willow couldn't help but think about Harry and if the spell had worked.  
  
She was broken out of her thoughts however by the arrival of Draco and Ginny, come by to see the baby.  
  
"Hey Willow," Ginny smiled widely as she took in the sight of the baby, still enjoying his meal. She motioned for Draco to move two chairs closer to the bed. "How're you feeling?"  
  
"Sore," Willow smiled ruefully. "Did Molly tell you how big James turned out to be?"  
  
"A little under 10 pounds wasn't he?" Draco said, leaning back in his chair.  
  
Willow nodded. "Um-hm. He was quite a big baby." She frowned, suddenly remembering what she had been thinking about before they had entered the room. "Any news?"  
  
Draco smirked. "No, not yet. But then, we've been rather busy." He paused for dramatic effect. "Hermione went into labour an hour ago."  
  
Willow cocked an eyebrow incredulously toward Draco. "Seriously?"  
  
Ginny grinned. "Yep. She and Ron are in their room right now with Mum."  
  
A grin slowly crept onto Willow's face and she looked down at James, who had finished his dinner and was now fussing lightly. "Did you hear that James? You're going to have a cousin to play with soon." She looked back up at Ginny and Draco as she re-buttoned her nightshirt and moved James to her shoulder to burp him. "How long did Molly say it would be?"  
  
Ginny shrugged. "She doesn't know. It's their first child so it could be awhile." Suddenly, their conversation was broken by the arrival of Remus Lupin and Tonks, who looked rather dishevelled, but elated with some news, as evidenced by the huge smiles on their faces.  
  
"Willow?" Tonks called as she came into the room, looking shocked as she saw the bundle in the younger woman's arms. "Are you...oh Merlin...you had the baby?"  
  
Willow quirked a smile in her direction, moving the now burped and asleep James down to her arms again. "Yeah, about a half hour ago. Isn't that why you're here?"  
  
Remus enthusiastically shook his head no. "They're back. Both of them."  
  
Ginny and Draco's eyes widened. She had done it. Both Harry and Sirius were back.  
  
Willow ignored the stunned silence that fell over her two friends. "Where are they?"  
  
"At St. Mungos getting a thorough check-up. We're not sure what they might have been exposed to in the Veil and they were both unconscious when they were found," Remus said quietly, watching as Willow put the baby in the bassinette next to the bed and swung her legs over the side of her mattress, moving to stand up.  
  
"Whoa," Draco stood and pushed Willow back down. "And just where do you think you're going?"  
  
"To see Harry," she winced in pain as her uterus rhythmically clenched in retaliation for her abrupt movements.  
  
"I DO not think so," Draco continued adamantly. Indeed, since he had met Willow, their relationship had emerged as an almost sibling-like one. It stood to reason, after all, as they were both only children and they had a lot in common. Now though, he had to use his capacity as her quasi-brother to convince Willow to lay back down and get some rest before she caused herself to haemorrhage or get an infection, as had been to known to happen when women overexerted themselves too soon after giving birth. "Harry can wait. Besides, he's probably still being checked over, not to mention the fact that if I know Potter, he probably hasn't even woken up yet."  
  
"I don't care, I need to see him," Willow ignored the pain that standing right now caused and tried again, her legs betraying her and turning into jelly when she finally was upright, sending her back to the bed.  
  
"Willow, you just had a baby what? Half an hour ago? You're in no condition to move, let alone travel. Give it some time," Draco said soothingly, helping her to lie back down.  
  
"But..." she protested tiredly.  
  
"No buts," Draco interjected. "You know he's alive. That's enough for now," he paused, remembering that neither Remus nor Tonks were aware of the gender of the baby, let alone gotten a chance to look at him. "Now why don't you show Remus and Tonks the baby and then try to get some rest while the rest of us wait for the arrival of the newest Weasley?"  
  
Tonks hooted with laughter. "Let me guess, Hermione's in labour too?"  
  
Ginny smirked widely. "Yep. She started about an hour ago. If she plays her cards right, her baby and James will be born on the same day."  
  
"James?" Remus brought the group back to the event that had occurred only a half hour ago. "You had a boy?"  
  
Willow nodded, leaning over and picking up the baby. "I named him after Harry's father and one of my best friends from Sunnydale. You want to hold him?"  
  
Remus smiled, his eyes misting slightly. "Of course," he said, and gingerly took the bundle that Willow offered him. James settled in his arms warmly, bringing Remus back to a day 24 years ago when he had held another black haired and emerald eyed bundle; Harry. Silently, he thanked the powers that be for seeing fit to send that child- and the godfather that he had lost- back to earth.  
  
"Remus?" Tonks questioned quietly, noticing how emotional the former werewolf was getting. "You okay?"  
  
"Hm-mm," he murmured. "Just noticing how much this little guy looks like his father. It seems like only yesterday I was going to see Harry after Lily and James had him." He looked up, noticing that Willow was quietly going to sleep in front of them. "Well," he handed the baby to Tonks for a moment, and moving to tuck Willow in. "Get some sleep Willow. You deserve it." Tonks stood at Remus' gesture to put James back into the bassinette, and followed him to the hallway, watching as Ginny and Draco did the same.  
  
And from her bed, Willow fell into an exhausted slumber, physically and emotionally content for the first time in months. 


	2. Revelations

Chapter 2- Revelations  
  
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Harry Potter awoke from what felt like a very long nap the next morning. And, although he felt rested physically, his mind was weary. Truth be told, he had no idea how he had been able to exit the purgatory he had been kept in over the last few months.  
  
Indeed, it was a kind of hell no one should have to experience. He knew time had passed but he hadn't been allowed to see what was happening to his family and friends. He hadn't been alone though, and this was probably the only thing that had kept him sane. Sirius had been there too, keeping him company. They had caught up on what had happened while he had been in the Veil, and Harry had the distinct pleasure of telling his Godfather that since his 'death,' he had received a full pardon by the Ministry of Magic. He also told him about Willow, a topic that Harry never seemed to tire of speaking of, and Sirius teased him mercilessly about. The thoughts of Willow always inevitably led to thoughts of the Dark Lord that had brought him there to Purgatory in the first place.  
  
Harry didn't have a clue what had become of Voldemort, and frankly, he didn't care.  
  
But now, as he lay on the soft mattress of his bed in St. Mungos, he felt strangely at peace. As far as he knew, Voldemort was gone, and he was free to live his life with Willow and whatever children they chose to have. Indeed, during one of their late night conversations prior to their marriage, Willow had told him of her desire for children. Harry had agreed with her, sensing in the fact that both of them were only children that their family would definitely consist of more than one child.  
  
Thoughts of Willow had him smiling again. He had missed her. He wondered exactly how angry she would be with him though. After all, he had not only drugged her, but went off to fight Voldemort by himself. He cringed, thinking of the arguments to come over his rash actions.  
  
This was the scene that Remus and Sirius, who had gained consciousness soon after he was admitted to the wizarding hospital, walked in on.  
  
"You okay there Harry?" Sirius said teasingly, taking a seat on the foot of the bed.  
  
"Never better," Harry smiled at his godfather and Remus, "Just thinking of the reception I should probably expect from Willow." He grinned ruefully. "If I know her, she's furious," he furrowed his brows in question. "Remus, exactly how long was I gone?"  
  
Remus sighed. "A little over 7 months," he paused, thinking of the brief conversation he had with a freshly napped Willow before he came to see Harry on her behalf. She had informed him that since she couldn't be there when he woke up, someone close to him should be, to tell him about James. Harry was either going to be happy about this or- what was the phrase the she had used- oh yes, FREAK OUT. Remus just hoped it was the former, rather than the latter. "Harry, there's something you should know."  
  
Harry paled, immediately thinking the worst. "What's wrong? Is it Willow?"  
  
Remus shook his head in reassurance, making Sirius curious as to what he had to say. "Nothing's wrong. Willow's fine. Grand really. It's just that," he sighed, not knowing how to tell Harry that he was a father. "Some recent...developments...have come to light within the last few hours since you and Sirius got back."  
  
Sirius was rapidly getting frustrated. "Get to the point Remus," he growled in mock warning.  
  
"After you disappeared," Remus continued at his friend's urgings, "Willow collapsed. She had been...channelling...certain magics that weren't healthy for her." He watched as Harry winced, knowing that he knew all about what he was referring to. "Madame Pomfrey checked her over and they found something rather surprising." He paused, checking to see that Harry was ready for this. "She was pregnant."  
  
Harry's jaw dropped and he flushed. He hadn't been expecting this. "And...the baby? Or is Willow still..." His voice wavered.  
  
Remus shook his head in answer to his latter question."Willow gave birth to a healthy baby boy this morning," Remus smiled brightly, remembering the look of elation on Willow's face as she looked upon her son. "She named him James Alexander and he was born about 15 minutes before 7, an extremely hearty 9 pounds 13 ounces."  
  
Harry was stunned. He was a father.  
  
Sirius was the first to break the silence that had fallen over the room. "Well, congratulations Harry. A son!"  
  
"Yeah," a smile spread onto his shocked face. "I'm a father." The thought of all the months of Willow's life he had missed, her pregnancy, the months of grieving she had probably went through...the smile melted off his face as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by grim determination. He would make this up to her somehow. He turned to Remus, suddenly eager to see his wife and son. "When can I see them?"  
  
"As soon as you want. Your check-up went fine. You're in perfect health." Remus chuckled at Harry's eagerness. "She wanted to come see you herself after Tonks and I went to tell her the news that you were back, you know. We were as shocked as you were that she had already had the baby." He paused, remembering. "Draco had to almost physically restrain her. She had only had James less than an hour at the time."  
  
"I'll have to thank him later," Harry murmured, while swinging his legs over the side of the bed and standing up. "Now where are my clothes?"  
  
Remus, suddenly remembering the bag of Harry's things that Molly had sent him with as he had left the Burrow, got up and walked over to the corner of the hospital room, picking up the bag, and handing it to Harry. "Molly packed you an overnight bag, just in case you had to stay here the night." He smiled smugly. "I think they'll be happy you decided to come home though."  
  
Harry shot him an amused look. "If they don't kill me first."  
  
Sirius and Remus both shot him confused looks in return.  
  
He rolled his eyes. "Think about it. What did I do before I went off and fought Voldemort, AGAINST the Order's plans I might add?"  
  
His godfather continued to stare at him blankly, Remus looking more confused as well.  
  
"I drugged Willow, remember. With Severus Snape's help."  
  
"OH!" Remus and Sirius finally got it.  
  
"I wouldn't be so concerned about it Harry." Remus said comfortingly as Harry took the bag of his clothes and toiletries into the washroom. "She's a very forgiving person."  
  
"Oh yeah?" Harry called sarcastically from the bathroom. "Remind me to tell you of the first few months we knew each other sometime."  
  
"Well look on the bright side," Sirius chimed in. "At least the make-up sex will be good."  
  
Remus shot him a disgusted look.  
  
"What?" Sirius replied defensively. "Tell me you weren't thinking the same thing."  
  
Remus was ashamed to admit that he had been. But that was probably Tonks' influence. After all, this morning had been the first time he had had sex in almost 2 years and it had been great. Harry's return had interrupted round two however, leaving Remus still craving Tonks' touch.  
  
Harry came out of the bathroom at this point, successfully saving Remus from Sirius' intrusive and verbalized thoughts that so unfortunately fell along his own minds. "You two ready to go?" Harry asked, the duffle bag Molly had sent for him slung over his now clothed shoulder.  
  
"Yep," Sirius said jovially, and stood up, following Remus and Harry out the door and away to the apparition point.  
  
The first thing Harry heard as he walked into the kitchen of the Burrow after Remus and Sirius left him was the laughter. This in itself was not odd. What WAS odd though, was that it was almost midnight, long past the time that the Burrow tended to grow quiet as everyone went to sleep.  
  
"Hello?" he called out quietly, unsure of the reception he would be receiving from the inhabitants of the kitchen.  
  
"HARRY!" A very pregnant Ginny cried, standing from her spot sitting at the kitchen table with Draco, Ron, Molly and Arthur. She drew him into a tight hug.  
  
"Hello Ginny, how are you doing?" he let her go and looked over her growing form. "Well, it seems." He leaned down and placed a kiss on her cheek. "Congratulations."  
  
"Thank you," she smiled. "Did Remus tell you the good news?"  
  
Harry smiled broadly. "Yeah. He did. Where are they?"  
  
Ginny smile turned into a grin. "In your room. Willow moved in there shortly after, well..."  
  
"I died," he finished softly. Suddenly, he felt two sets of strong arms enfold him in a hug. Apparently Ron and Draco were happy he was back too.  
  
"Hello to you too," he chuckled. "How are things?"  
  
"Better now that you're back," Ron smiled and then suddenly turned serious. "Don't ever do that again mate. I don't know if we could go through another funeral."  
  
Harry paled. "Funeral?"  
  
Draco nodded. "A big one. We can show you where we put the memorial stone sometime if you'd like."  
  
"Boys," Molly brought the three men out of the dark conversation they were about to have. "Harry doesn't need to hear about that now. Not on such a happy occasion." She turned to Harry and a sly grin spread across her face. "I was made a grandmother twice today."  
  
"Twice?" Harry looked confused.  
  
Ron nodded and smirked. "Hermione had our baby a few hours ago now."  
  
"Seriously?" Harry returned Ron's grin with one of his own. "So they were..."  
  
"Born 12 hours apart they were," Arthur finally broke into the conversation. "That'll make for some fine birthday parties in the years to come."  
  
"Speaking of the babies," Ginny piped up, sensing Harry's eagerness to see his wife and son. "Willow will kill us if we don't send Harry up immediately." She turned to the anxious man beside her. "Did Remus tell you that she tried to go to see you this morning? Draco had to restrain her..."  
  
Harry nodded. "Yeah," he turned to Draco. "Thanks by the way."  
  
Draco quirked an eyebrow in his direction. "No problem mate. She's like a sister to me. And as her hypothetical brother, I would advise you to get up there NOW before she comes down and drags you up."  
  
Harry grinned, excited to see his family. "See you later then?"  
  
The rest of group shooed him off at this action.  
  
Harry approached the door to his old room quietly, not wanting to wake up the babies that slept on this floor of the house. Noiselessly, he opened the door and stepped in. What he saw almost made him weep with emotion. There, lying on the bed was Willow who had fallen asleep on her side with the baby at her breast. She obviously had been feeding him when she had dropped off. As he grew closer to the bed the baby, who as Harry got closer, seemed to look an awful lot like him, began to stir, obviously sensing someone in the room. He didn't start crying though. No, James simply stared up at his father as if he knew who he was. Not wanting to wake up Willow, Harry silently picked up James and moved to the rocking chair in the corner of the room.  
  
It was the squeak from the corner of the room that woke Willow up, although she still felt like she was asleep. There, quietly rocking their son back to sleep, sat Harry. He was back, and from the look of love on his face, NOT upset by this turn of events and the extra addition to their relationship. Indeed, Willow had to remind herself that it was probably just like yesterday that Harry and she had gotten married for him. Now, to discover that he had a child...but Harry seemed to have taken it well.  
  
She felt, rather than saw him stand up and put James in the bassinette before sitting down on the bed next to her.  
  
"Hey," Harry smiled gently, and reached out to brush a hand across her cheek.  
  
Willow, who still thought she was dreaming, as she had been of this for 7 months, gave a sob of relief that this was real as his hand made contact with her face. "You're alive," she whispered, tears beginning their silent descent down her face as she sat up and embraced her long missing husband.  
  
"Yeah, not sure how, but I am," he chuckled softly, returning her hug and drawing her into a deep kiss.  
  
Willow returned his kiss willingly, her lips having missed his touch for too long. Apparently Remus hadn't told Harry about the fact that it was Willow that had performed the ceremony to return Harry and Sirius. She would tell him later. After all, he had only gotten back and there were more important things to talk about at the moment.  
  
"Our son is beautiful," Harry murmured as they finally broke apart.  
  
Willow smiled. "Isn't he? He looks just like you..."  
  
Harry shook his head. "He has your eyes, not mine. His are a lighter green. And your face...he has that too." A silent sob suddenly went through his body. "This is just...more than I could have ever hoped for."  
  
"I know," she whispered, happy tears of her own slipping down her cheeks.  
  
"Merlin I missed you," Harry was crying now too. "I'm sorry."  
  
"For what?" Willow murmured as he lay down in the bed with her and took her into his arms. Truth be told, she didn't really feel like talking. She had missed him yes, but for now, the ache in her body from the delivery and the weariness of mind were winning over her desire to communicate with her husband. All she wanted to do at the moment was curl up into Harry's arms and fall asleep. By the way she was being held though, Willow suspected that she just might get her wish.  
  
"For what I did, before," he murmured in return. "When I put the draught into your drink..."  
  
"Harry," Willow interrupted, burrowing deeper into his chest. "I forgave you for that months ago." She paused, thinking that she should at least show her displeasure for his actions, even if her anger had been dampened somewhat over the last few months. With a sigh, she realized that she was too tired to have that conversation right now, and looked up at Harry. "Just so you know though, if you ever do anything like that again, I might reconsider forgiving you." There. That was enough chastising for the moment.  
  
Harry smiled softly, inwardly shuddering in relief. Apparently Willow was too tired to give him the verbal scolding he so obviously deserved. "I'll keep that in mind." And with that, Harry felt himself succumb to the drowsiness that had been fighting for dominance in his body since he had left St. Mungos, thanking his lucky stars that she wasn't in the fighting mood. With a sigh, he drew Willow closer, and gave in to sleeps embrace, knowing full well that eventually she would have more to say, and being perfectly content to wait until she had healed. For now though, he gave thanks for Willow and for the beautiful child they had, as he drifted off to sleep. 


	3. Internal Frustrations

Internal Frustrations  
  
Hello again. It is my 21st birthday tomorrow so I thought we'd all get a birthday treat....and without further adieu.....here is the next instalment of Hidden Truths and boy is it a smutty one! Rated NC-17 for explicit sex. Needless to say, I had fun writing this one. LOL. At any rate, the plotline is starting to emerge so get ready.  
  
OH! I now have 42 members in my yahoogroup! Thanks to anyone who joined and for those of you who haven't done so yet, please do. Here is the URL.  
  
  
  
And please remember to REVIEW! My creative juices need to be encouraged! (In other words, I am not averse to shameless flattery.....just kidding.)  
  
Enjoy!  
  
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Life returned to a somewhat normal state after Harry's return. Remus came out of hiding and was now joining Sirius on the Hogwarts staff as the new DADA professors and the Weasely family, or at least the grown children of Molly and Arthur, started to move out (much to Molly's chagrin). Indeed, Willow moved back to Hogwarts with Harry and James, albeit to enlarged quarters, and a new sense of freedom now that Voldemorts threat had been abated for the moment.  
  
And so it was soon September and time for the students to come back to Hogwarts for another school year. In her quarters, Willow sighed deeply, rolling onto her stomach in the king size bed that she and Harry shared, trying to get back to sleep. It was only 7 AM, the Sunday before the students arrived and James was blessedly silent for what seemed like the first morning in ages.  
  
Willow moaned audibly as sleep escaped her grasp. Apparently she was up and there was nothing to do to change this fact. With a sigh, she rolled over again and sat up, watching enviously as Harry continued to sleep next to her. She had apparently disturbed his rest momentarily however, because he rolled onto his back, the blankets slipping down to expose his upper body. This wasn't what drew Willow's attention though. No, it was the fascinating view of Harry's morning erection that made a smile cross her face. Harry had been neglectful of her lately due to his increased work schedule, her writing of this years lesson plans and James, who seemed to instinctively sense when his parents needed a moment alone, generally demanding attention for himself at that time. Indeed, James was three weeks old now and, due to wizarding medical advancements, new mothers were able to have sex only a week after the birth, as opposed to the usual six weeks muggle couples had to wait for.  
  
Despite this fact, she and Harry had only been able to indulge in this act once since his return, and that was only because she had taken him lunch at work one day two weeks ago. Harry, frustrated as well, had taken advantage of their unexpected break from life and proceeded to lay her down on his desk and make love to her before she had left to pick up James from Minerva, who had been watching him for her.  
  
Now, as Willow stared down at the tent his semi-erect penis made in the sheets, she took stock of the fact that, for the first time in 3 weeks, neither of them had anywhere to be and James was sound asleep in his crib.  
  
Grinning wickedly, she lowered the sheet, Harry's revealed erection seemingly begging for attention. Still grinning, she snuck a peek at her husbands face. He was still sleeping. With this in mind and a mischievous look on her face, she lowered her mouth over him.  
  
His cock hardened further as she moved down his length, drawing her tongue along the base and around the swelling head.  
  
A moan left Harry's chest, his eyes snapping open. "Willow?" he groaned quietly. "What are you doing?"  
  
"Baking a cake," she giggled, her mouth descending once more, swirling her tongue around his now impossibly hard penis. She continued with her ministrations, revelling at the sounds of pleasure emanating from Harry.  
  
"Willow," he panted in warning after a few minutes; she was too good at this and if she didn't stop soon, he would be coming in her mouth VERY shortly.  
  
"Hmmm?" she hummed in question, a twinkle in her eye as the vibration of the vocalized question caused Harry to shudder in near orgasm.  
  
Willow giggled again at the agony in Harry's face as he tried to hold back his impending climax. This was fast. He didn't generally get to the brink this quickly. Obviously he was feeling as pent up as she was. With another mischievous look on her face, she swirled her tongue around the head again before settling directly onto his frenulum.  
  
A terrific groan was rent from his throat as Willow hit that one spot designed to drive him insane with desire and he couldn't hold back anymore, cumming hard into his wife's mouth with a moan of satisfaction. Panting, he let himself go, slowly coming down from the intensity of the orgasm. He sensed rather than saw Willow looking down at him with a smirk.  
  
"Feeling a little pent-up?" She smiled indulgently. "You've never cum that fast before."  
  
Harry grinned back at her, still breathing hard. "You have that effect on me, ESPECIALLY after 2 weeks of abstinence."  
  
"Mmmm," Willow purred predatorily, crawling up Harry's body and lying on top of him. "Me too." She brought her mouth down to crush his and groaned softly, as he hungrily returned the kiss, rolling until he was on top of her.  
  
Harry smirked into Willow's mouth. He wasn't ready to go again so soon after climaxing, but he certainly could return the favour to his obviously wanting wife. The smirk grew into a grin as he moved his way down her body, dropping light kisses and arousing licks onto her breasts, stomach, hips, and finally, directly onto her clit.  
  
Willow cried out in ecstasy as Harry's mouth finally hit the spot that needed it the most. She moaned softly as he backed off slightly and dropped more kisses, interspersed with a few more licks, and the occasional suck, onto her nether lips before moving back to her clitoris.  
  
Oh my God. Willow thought, groaning as he licked the hood of her clit before dipping into her centre, his nose continuing to place much needed attention on her aching nub. Apparently there was something to be said for waiting. She couldn't remember the last time she had been so close to an orgasm she sensed was going to be huge so fast.  
  
"Oh God Harry," she panted, "don't stop!" He looked up at her and grinned devilishly. He didn't intend to. Indeed, his tongue was now licking her clit in an excruciatingly slow manner, causing Willow's pleasure to build painfully fast, but not applying enough pressure to push her over the edge. His grin widened as she began to twitch beneath his mouth  
  
She was shaking now with the intense anticipation of her orgasm. He wouldn't let her come though....she whimpered in ecstasy as he applied slightly more pressure to her nub, but still not enough to make her cum. "Oh please!" she cried as the ache became too intense, her legs wrapping around his head and her fingers wrapping around the tendrils of his messy hair. With another mischievous grin, Harry ignored the pressure put on his head by her thighs and complied willingly, taking the throbbing clit between his lips and sucking.  
  
"Holy shit!" Willow swore as the orgasm ripped through her body, her continuing moans spurred on as Harry continued to lightly suck on her clitoris, causing another orgasm to build up quickly and wash over her body.  
  
'She has never come this hard before,' he thought smugly, wincing as she accidentally pulled his hair. With a sigh, he finally withdrew his mouth from her sensitive area, allowing her to come down from the orgasm.  
  
Willow had never been this turned on after an orgasm. With a predatorial look at her husband (who had recovered nicely as exhibited by the prominent erection he was now sporting) she flipped him over onto his back, settling firmly on top of his stomach, not letting him enter her just yet. With a growl of lustful satisfaction, she leaned down to devour Harry's mouth.  
  
Suddenly, the door to their bedroom opened.  
  
"Willow? Harry? You weren't answering your door and....ack!" Sirius cried, backing quickly out the door, Remus following him and slamming the door shut after taking a brief and unwanted look at the intimate position the two were in. This unfortunately, was the last straw for James, who had slept through his parent's moans of pleasure, but apparently was not about to sleep through doors slamming. He woke with a muffled cry, before it turned into a full-fledged scream of rage at being woken so abruptly.  
  
Harry groaned in frustration from his place under Willow. They had both been craving this contact that was being denied them so often since his return- this time by his godfather and his son. Unfortunately, it looked like this would not be possible at the moment. Indeed, Harry was certain that instead of mind-blowing sex with his wife this morning, he would have to settle for fixing the problem himself, or a cold shower. Masturbation had lost the allure for him since he had met Willow though. It just didn't compare. He winced, thinking of the frustrating alternative of letting the erection die down on its own. He looked down at his engorged member and snorted in laughter. No amount of unattractive thoughts was going to cure his problem this morning. Cold shower it was then.  
  
Willow sighed wearily, quickly getting up off of Harry and putting her bathrobe on before picking up the still screaming James. From her spot at the crib, she watched as Harry got up, his erection having subsided slightly but not completely, and went to the bathroom. Moments later, she heard the shower start and a muffled, shocked yell. She smiled slightly. Cold shower. Her loins still throbbed in remembrance of the near intercourse she and Harry had been denied and she winced. She would need a cold shower herself. With this in mind, she turned back to the baby in her arms. James was hungry, but his most pressing need was a wet diaper so, after changing him, she went out to the living room, reminding herself of the fact that Sirius and Remus had seen her breast feed before and it would be rude to leave them out there by themselves. Willow snorted humourlessly. Rude her ass. Rude was the way they had barged into her private quarters and interrupted what was shaping up to be a perfectly blissful Sunday morning. She would show them rude.  
  
"Good morning Sirius, Remus," Willow said snidely as she sat down in her favourite overstuffed armchair, tucked her legs under her and settled James to her now bared breast, placing a throw blanket warmly overtop her body and James, thus cutting off the intimate view of her bosom that the two men would have otherwise gotten. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your company this morning?"  
  
From their spot on the couch facing her, Remus and Sirius blushed deeply.  
  
"Oh that's right!" Willow laughed humourlessly, not lifting her face from its place looking down at her son. "No pleasure was involved. Thanks to you that is." She paused before continuing in a frustrated voice. "Do you have any idea of the last time Harry and I had sex?"  
  
No answer came from the pair on the couch at her rhetorical question, so she continued, letting them feel the full brunt of her anger at being denied the sexual fulfillment Harry had been about to give her. "Two weeks ago. I know that doesn't seem like a lot of time to you, but look at it from my perspective." She paused again. "He's been considered dead for the previous 7 months before that. So you two better have a goddamned good reason as to why you barged into our private quarters this early on a Sunday morning."  
  
Remus cleared his throat awkwardly. "Where's Harry?"  
  
"He's in the shower, why?" Willow asked, confused.  
  
"He should probably be here for this." Sirius said, looking too worried for Willow to continue her negative feelings towards the man and his best friend. "It's about Voldemort. Someone brought him out of the Veil last night." 


	4. Truths Revealed

Truths Revealed  
  
"No," Willow replied adamantly as Harry gave her yet another reason why he –and not her- was better equipped to go after Voldemort. Indeed, they had been passively arguing for the past two months after Sirius and Remus had told them of Voldemort's return. This passivity however was rapidly deteriorating into full-fledged warfare as both spouses dug their heels in. And now, as they apparated into the Burrow's kitchen for Sunday dinner, two months of classes and Halloween successfully behind Willow, she wondered how long she'd have to hold her temper before she exploded. She just hoped it wasn't tonight, especially in light of the fact that the entire Weasley family, Remus, minus his girlfriend Tonks who had been sent on a mission for the Order, as well as Sirius would be joining the group for dinner. Molly had insisted. Indeed, the only reason why she hadn't also invited Severus, Minerva and Albus was because of the increased security measures at Hogwarts that they continued to enforce.  
  
"Willow, it's the only way. You know the prophecy as well as anyone. One of us has to die for the other to live." Harry continued, absentmindedly shifting a sleeping James in his arms.  
  
"We're not talking about this now," Willow said neutrally, desperately trying to keep her emotions in check as they walked into the kitchen. Sensing that he was someplace he knew, and the prospect of a visit with Grandma Molly, James stirred in his father's arms and began to fuss.  
  
"Not talking about what?" Remus asked from his spot at the table, chatting with Sirius.  
  
Willow smiled painfully. "The usual."  
  
"Oh," Remus nodded in understanding. He knew that Harry and Willow had been having troubles with the Voldemort issue, especially as they hadn't really discussed properly the events that occurred after their wedding and up to the point that Harry had 'died.' He also knew for a fact that Willow had felt deeply betrayed, trust only growing back when she had had several months to think about it. Harry on the other hand, had STILL not heard of these feelings that lay dormant in his wife, believing instead that she had forgiven him and that the subject had passed. From what he could see, it hadn't, and if he and Sirius had guessed correctly, Willow was due to share her true feelings any day now. Probably loudly if Harry kept on goading her the way he was. "Have you heard the news then?"  
  
Willow sat down at the table, eager for Remus's calming influence to soothe her temper. Indeed, in those first 3 months after Harry had died, he and Severus had been the only ones to be able to calm her anger at what had been done to her, the betrayal of her trust and of her heart becoming too much. "No. What's happened?" She asked, watching as Harry sat down next to her with James. Silently, she reached over and took her squirming and fussy son from Harry.  
  
Remus's expression softened as he took in the baby in Willow's arms. "May I?" He gestured to Willow. She nodded, handing him James. The baby instantly quieted, his hands going to Remus's face to touch his beard, something that never failed to fascinate James.  
  
"It was Lucius Malfoy that got Voldemort out of the Veil. He broke out of Azkaban two weeks ago," Sirius broke in, finishing Remus's news and sneaking a peek at the baby that was now in the former lycanthropes arms, lightly grabbing at his facial hair.  
  
"What?" Harry broke into the conversation. "It was Lucius?"  
  
Sirius nodded. "Yep. According to Arthur, they've got a special elite section of your office working on the case right now."  
  
"The M.I.A.?" He said in a shocked voice, referring to the higher ranking and internal aurors that the ministry hired for more difficult and dangerous missions. Sirius nodded in acknowledgement of Harry's correct assumption.  
  
"The M.I.A.?" Willow said in an amused voice, knowing full well who they were but playing dumb. After all, she had worked with them all summer. "What are they, a rip-off of the C.I.A.?"  
  
Harry paused, knowing that Willow would naturally be unaware of such a higher up organization. Indeed, only select individuals were aware of their existence at all, generally only being used as intelligence gatherers. Not in this case however. No, if the Ministry had seen fit to send out this elite task force, things must be really bad. Generally they only sent out Aurors, the wizarding equivalent of the police officer. "Kind of. They're an elite task force. Only the best are recruited, but you've got to do your time as an auror first. I only know about them because of our fight with Voldemort." He looked up at his wife and shrugged. "They're looking into recruiting Ron, Draco and I because of it."  
  
Willow's eyebrow rose. "Really?" She knew of course, she had been the one to recommend them, a week after James' birth when the head of the M.I.A. had brought flowers by the Burrow to congratulate her. Indeed, through a bizarre twist, it had turned out to be Giles' cousin on his mothers' side, coincidentally the one he had been close to, William. Once Bill, as Willow had come to call the attractive over 50 man that bore a striking resemblance to Sean Connery, had realized that she was THAT Willow Rosenberg, now Rosenberg-Potter, he had immediately tried to recruit her. Willow had simply laughed, informed him that she was happy teaching at Hogwarts, and that was that. Maybe when the baby was a little older... She was torn out of her thoughts however, by the sound of James' fussy cries getting louder. Turning to Remus, she accepted the baby and brought him to her chest, rocking him. "Oh sweetie, it's okay," she murmured to the baby, who quieted slightly before rooting around in the region of her breasts, obviously hungry. "Just like your father," she said under her breath, rolling her eyes at James' antics.  
  
"Excuse me?" Harry retorted in an amused voice as Sirius and Remus started laughing. Her words had been louder than she had thought.  
  
Willow stood, deciding that she and the baby would go out to the living room, before turning to back to her husband and smirking slightly. "You know exactly what I mean Harry Potter," before taking her leave, placing a smouldering kiss on Harry's lips in her wake and returning to cooing softly to the baby that still lay in her arms rooting for a breast.  
  
"All's well in paradise then?" Remus smiled, a knowing look on his face.  
  
"Yeah, I think it is." Harry smiled back wistfully, remembering that morning. He had made her late for class and he had happily been late for work. A cloud drifted into his otherwise sunny thoughts though and he suddenly frowned. "But the Voldemort thing is beginning to wear on us."  
  
"What are you going to do?" Sirius asked quietly. Indeed, he was concerned for his godson's marriage. Willow and Harry were both stubborn people. He couldn't begin to fathom how they were going to resolve the fact that Harry was going to have to kill the Dark Lord in order to be able to continue his existence untainted and alive, let alone without Willow, a feat Sirius was willing to bet wouldn't be happening and would cause many arguments between the two before it was resolved.  
  
"I don't know. Wait I guess. I'm not sure that's the smartest idea in the world however, not when Voldemort is out there somewhere."  
  
"No, no it's not," a new voice entered the room.  
  
"Albus," Remus said in a startled voice, "what are you doing here?"  
  
"I do hate to break up the family get together but Severus was summoned this afternoon. We're calling an emergency meeting of the Order to deal with the repercussions of the meeting." Dumbledore said wearily, the twinkle that was always present in his eye fading momentarily. Harry silently groaned. Why couldn't he try being normal for once? He stood up wearily, motioning for Sirius and Remus to stay seated before going into the living room to inform his wife that the waiting they had talked about in their current scenario about Voldemort was about to end.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The atmosphere in the room was sombre, heavy with the weight of Dumbledore's news. The members of the Order had adjourned to the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts for their meeting, only to be informed by their esteemed leader, Albus Dumbledore, that Voldemort was feeble from his stay in the Veil, both mentally and physically, but was gathering his forces rather quickly in an act of protection of his weakened state.  
  
This however, while comforting many of the group, providing precious time to plan for what would be the final battle, was not a comfort for Harry and Willow. No, as soon as Dumbledore had broken the news, the internal argument that they had been putting off for a month had broken forth in a torrent of bottled-up emotions, concern for the other and the real concern that one of them was going to do something rash getting the better of them.  
  
How they had managed to hold off confronting the other until the end of the meeting though was a mystery, after most of the members of the Order had left, but the Weasleys, Draco, Sirius, Remus, Severus, Minerva and Dumbledore were unfortunately still present for the fireworks.  
  
Ron, as Harry's best friend, would later reflect to his wife, Harry's other best friend, that it was entirely Harry's fault that the argument had happened in the first place. Indeed, Harry had questioned Dumbledore about how exactly the Order, and ultimately he, could go about removing Voldemort's spirit, the force that kept him emerging in the wizarding world. Willow had presented a solution: using an orb of thesulah or even a human vessel if one that could handle the power of the dark magic could be found. Of course this would require large spells that she coincidentally had performed in the past. Harry, in a typically Harry move and being fully aware of her dangerous past, had immediately shot down this idea because of the risk it posed to his wife. Willow had responded in kind, with a snide remark that it was not dangerous, just draining, and she would be doing it to help him so it would be worth it. And that had been the end of civil conversation between the two of them.  
  
"Are they always like this?" Sirius leaned over and whispered into Ron's ear. Ron didn't get to answer though as Draco, who had been watching the heated argument in front of him in amusement, responded.  
  
"Not since they first met," he smirked, listening as Willow landed a particularly harsh verbal assault on the state of Harry's overly large hero complex. Suddenly, the importance of this argument hit him, remembering from the conversation he had had with Willow just 2 weeks ago that she and Harry hadn't properly sat down and discussed the events that had occurred in the past year. "Bloody hell, this is the first time they've talked about this isn't it?"  
  
From his spot at the table, Remus paled and nodded. "They haven't even talked about what happened prior to Harry's disappearance."  
  
"Perhaps we should leave then?" Minerva broke in awkwardly, sensing the importance of the heated conversation before her, and remembering one that she had had with Dumbledore over the Grindelwald incident. She had only been his friend at the time and so she could only imagine the complications that being married would add to the dynamics of the argument.  
  
"Minerva, do shut up," Severus broke in dryly, "I'm missing Willow's verbal dressing down of Potter here."  
  
"But this is a private conversation..." she continued weakly, secretly wanting to stay as well.  
  
Dumbledore himself shushed her this time.  
  
"I don't know why you of all people should be talking to me about the 'danger' in my actions," Willow sneered. She had never been this angry in her entire life, concern for Harry's disregard for his own life annoying her to no end. She couldn't believe the attitude that he was taking toward this whole Voldemort business. Apparently, it was not acceptable for her to even step onto the proverbial battlefield, let alone orchestrate a spell from afar that might end up being the Dark Lord's downfall. No, apparently Harry Potter knew everything and according to him (as Willow was reluctant to admit) he WAS the one in the prophecy that could ultimately kill Voldemort. This didn't mean that she couldn't help though. Willow was just confused- and extremely angered- by Harry's definition of help. According to him, this meant staying at Hogwarts like a good little wife, taking care of James, and staying out of trouble. This was not Willow's idea of a good plan though. Indeed, she had already gone to Harry's funeral once and damned if she was going to attend another anytime soon.  
  
"Oh really?" Harry drawled, his voice drawing Willow out of her inner thought. "Must we go back to Sunnydale and examine the careless actions you did?"  
  
"If you'll recall correctly, all my actions were to help my friends so that they wouldn't DIE!" Willow retorted angrily.  
  
"But not at the expense of your own well-being...."Harry responded heavily.  
  
"But if the risk is worth it, if your friends are in danger," Willow spat back. "Then the risk is justified as you very well know..."  
  
"And what of yourself?" Harry said pointedly, ignoring her insinuation that he was as bad as she was when it came to having a hero complex and angry at the lack of concern Willow had for her own well-being. "We have a son now Willow..."  
  
Willow's jaw dropped. She couldn't believe Harry would go so low as to imply what she thought he was implying. "Are you calling me a bad mother?" Harry, realizing that he had stepped into an area better left alone, hastily tried to retract his statement but it was too late, the damage was already done. Willow continued to rail at him, narrowing her eyes angrily as she did so. "Well aren't we just the pot calling the kettle black?" She paused, pursing her lips, her anger pooling into a dark ball of verbal rage. Indeed, she hadn't discussed her feelings of betrayal with him yet, instead telling herself that when the proper time and place arose, then she would let him know exactly how she felt. Harry was making the decision for her unfortunately as to the where and when. He didn't understand. She would change that.  
  
"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Harry stepped back from his wife, crossing his arms in offence.  
  
"Just what it sounds like," she smirked at him. "You left me Harry, the morning after we got MARRIED," Willow's voice got steadily louder at this point, "WITHOUT consultation of either me or the Order, got yourself thrown into the Veil where I thought you'd DIED and now you expect me to just sit back and do nothing while you go off and get yourself killed for real this time." She paused and looked down at her hands. "I'm sorry Harry, but I'm not doing that again."  
  
Harry was silent at these last words. He knew that this had been the case but to hear her verbalize her thoughts, her feelings about what he had done, it suddenly made it more real and now the guilt that he had let ease over the past two months came back full force. Willow wasn't done though.  
  
"Do you have any idea of what it's like to stand over your spouses grave, and KNOW that they're never coming back? That the person you thought you'd grow old with is not going to be there? That the child that you just found out you're going to have in seven months is never going to know his father?" She paused, pursing her lips to stem the tears that were gathering in her eyes. "I do and you don't seem to get that." A tear silently fell from her eyes and she sighed. "I love you Harry, but I can't go through that again."  
  
Harry was silent at this revelation, weighing his words carefully before he spoke. Willow beat him to it though.  
  
"So you see why you can't go up against him..."  
  
And that was that. His carefully weighed words were thrown immediately out the window and whatever guilt Harry had been feeling was immediately replaced again by anger at Willow's selfishness. She had heard the prophecy...she knew what it meant...  
  
"No, I don't think YOU get it," he spat out angrily. "I'm it. No matter what happens with this battle, whether I'm there alone, or with you, I'm the one that ultimately has to kill him." He silently seethed for a moment. "I'm not going to apologize for wanting to keep you and James safe when there is a Dark Lord just itching to get to every last member of my family. Now I know you understand this, but you need to also understand my point of view. I CAN'T LOSE YOU EITHER. You're it. My everything. If I lose you, there's nothing worth living for and Voldemort might as well have killed me for all the good I'll be. So you, and your spells that generally come close to killing you can just stay away because I won't let you risk yourself for me, or our son."  
  
The room was still, shocked by Harry's violent and uncharacteristic outburst of emotion. Indeed, it had been awhile since any of the people in the room had seen Harry this passionate about something. They watched in anticipation of the couple's next actions, as they watched Harry tremble in cathartic rage at the woman he cared for so deeply, and the woman in question tremble in equal anger as the tears she had been fighting won their battle, and she openly and silently cried. The silence was broken once again though, by Willow.  
  
"Excuse me?!" she exclaimed in a shocked and betrayed voice, the tears still falling down her cheeks. "My spells are perfectly safe. And you know what Harry Potter? FUCK YOU! Go ahead and get yourself killed then. Just don't expect tears from me at your funeral because I've already done that. And you want to know something else.....oomph!" She was cut off as Harry did what he always wanted to do when she got angry and wouldn't listen to reason: he kissed her. Hard.  
  
Sitting at the table, Hermione's eyes went huge as she watched her best friend sweep his wife up into a fiery kiss that seemed to go on forever. Truth be told, she was concerned. Their argument hadn't solved anything, but she felt that it probably cleared the air dramatically for both Harry and for Willow. Suddenly, Harry broke apart from Willow, breathing hard and, without pausing for a breath, swept his dazed wife over his shoulder, not giving her time to come to her senses and start arguing with him again.  
  
"Would you keep James for the night?" Harry turned to Hermione and Ron as he stood in the doorway. Hermione nodded and watched as the couple left the room, the door slamming shut in their wake, cutting off the already loud argument that continued to go on as Harry refused to let the now struggling Willow go. Hermione smiled. Cathartic indeed. Maybe more than just demons would be purged tonight. She smirked at her witty double entendre. Good for them. 


	5. Surprise

Surprise  
  
Alright. This is actually chapter 6. For those of you here at fanfiction.net, Chapter 5 is FAR too smutty for you, even worse than chapter 3....here's my yahoogroup address if you all want to read it. . The address (in the event that this isn't coming up) is also posted in my profile. Just click on the firegoddess100 link and it should be there. Enjoy!  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was again Willow's favourite time of year. Indeed, Christmas time had come to Hogwarts once more. This year was different for Willow Rosenberg- Potter though. For one she was a mother, something she couldn't have imagined at this time last year, and for another she had Harry back with her. Between these two factors, it had been a wonderful few months.  
  
Since their argument things had gotten better between the two of them, the air being cleared sufficiently that they could now talk without threat of one or the others feelings being hurt. And James was thriving, now a busy 5 and a half months old and starting to crawl, therefore causing a world of trouble for his parents. Indeed James was not only causing trouble by getting into everything, but his magic had started to emerge, meaning that an even closer eye had to be kept on the mischievous baby who had a tendency of procuring objects he wanted by any means possible. For instance, yesterday morning he had interrupted Willow's lesson from his playpen, set up in the corner of the classroom, by summoning Emily Weasley's wand from her hand. Emily had taken an apprenticeship with Willow that year at Dumbledore's request, understanding that with the new baby and the newly expanded class that (Willow now taught all the levels of Hogwarts students) Willow would need the help. It wasn't her ultimate goal though. Indeed, Emily was in training part time to become a curse-breaker for Gringotts but stood to earn more money if her wandless magic skills were more expansive. Noticing Emily's propensity for the subject, Willow had taken her on.  
  
It seemed however, that fate had it in for Willow Rosenberg-Potter on this day. Indeed, Emily had come down with the wizards flu that was making the rounds of the school-even some of the teachers had had it- and was now at home at the Burrow. This meant that for the first time in months Willow was teaching a full roster of students as well as taking care of James who, with his magic coming in the way it was, was causing more trouble in the class room than Willow thought was possible for a baby. Combined with her new teaching schedule and the consultation work she still did for the Aurors after hours, she had rapidly been reaching her breaking point. Harry had learned of this last night, when a bleary eyed Willow had handed him James as Harry had come in the door from work and promptly gone to take a nap. She had ended up sleeping for 12 hours.  
  
Indeed, just this morning Harry had offered to take some time off work to help her but Willow had refused, arguing that his role in tracking down Lucius Malfoy and Voldemort was far more important than looking after James who, she had assured him, could easily spend the day with his mother and perhaps his Grandpa's Remus and Sirius should Willow feel so inclined to ask them to take care of the baby. Harry had reluctantly left that morning, having secretly flooed Remus and Sirius asking them to keep an eye on his overworked wife, and knowing that if she knew they were looking after her for him that she wouldn't like it. Harry quite frankly could care less.  
  
And now, as she stood at the front of her fifth year class lecturing on the value and ethical nature of glamours in wizarding society and her son finally slept in his playpen in the corner, Willow's nausea, brought on by too much work and not enough sleep, came back full force and the room began to spin lightly. Emily, it appeared, had passed on the wizard flu to her before she succumbed to it herself. It was now December 17th, the last day of classes before the holiday and a full week that her assistant had been excused from teaching, the first 3 days spent in the infirmary and the last 4 at home with her Grandma Weasley. Willow was determined to get through these last few minutes of class though, before finally succumbing to the relentless nausea and headache that had been plaguing her all day.  
  
Her body had other plans however, her lecture being interrupted as the spinning abruptly got worse and her vision began to dim. Shouts for help were the last thing she heard before the darkness took over.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Willow? Willow...wake up now," a soothing voice crooned softly as she lay on the bed in what she strongly suspected was the hospital wing judging by the antiseptic smell that was stinging her nose. Oh wait. That must be the smelling salts. She abruptly sat up and immediately wished she hadn't as the nausea swept over her and she vomited into the bucket that was suddenly in her face. "Thanks," she groaned as the spasms subsided and she lay back down, feeling the bucket that now held what had been in her stomach be lifted off of the bed and placed on the floor next to her, its noxious contents magicked away by Madame Pomfrey. Indeed, Willow could now see that she WAS in the hospital wing. She wasn't alone though. In the corner of the room sat Sirius, James sitting on his lap, and Remus, who were both wearing concerned looks on their faces. "What happened?" she croaked, closing her eyes against the bright light of the late afternoon sun that shone into her eyes from the windows facing her bed.  
  
"You passed out," Remus said softly and easily, his gentle tone belying any extreme anxiety for her current state. This couldn't be any farther from the truth. Indeed, a very scared Andrew Jones, 5th year Hufflepuff and a student in Willow's class, had broken into Sirius and Remus's 6th year lecture on the Patronus to announce that Willow had fainted in the middle of class. Remus hadn't been that scared in awhile, fear for Harry's wife and her health getting the better of him as he and Sirius had transported her to the Infirmary.  
  
Willow chuckled. "Really? Well that's something I haven't done in awhile..." Her brow furrowed in concern as she remembered what had occurred before she had lost consciousness. "Why are you guys here? And what's James doing with you?"  
  
Sirius smiled slightly, bouncing a giggling James on his lap. He COULD tell her that Harry had asked them to keep an eye on her, but he didn't want to cause trouble in his godson's marriage, not after all they had been through and the struggle they consistently had with worrying over each other's safety and potentially reckless actions. "Harry's still at work. Poppy said Emily had probably given you the wizards flu so we didn't think we had to call him away just yet." This of course, was not true at all. They HAD flooed Harry, as per his instructions, but he had been away on a potential sighting of Lucius Malfoy and had been unavailable to speak to. Furthermore, Sirius was fairly certain that the wizards flu did NOT require the amount of tests that Poppy Pomfrey had subjected her to when she had been brought in.  
  
"I'm glad," Willow murmured, remembering the case her husband was working on now with Draco and Ron; that of Lucius Malfoy's that had been handed down to them from the overworked M.I.A.'s docket to the Auror's. Indeed, it was important that he work on that and not worry about any fainting spells that Willow had brought on by a small wizards flu because of the continued threat that Voldemort still posed to the wizarding world in general. "It's just the wizards flu after all."  
  
A filled silence suddenly appeared in the room. Remus and Sirius knew for a fact that it wasn't, based on Poppy's reaction when they had brought her in and the immediate slew of tests that Willow in her unconscious state had been subjected to. Indeed, Poppy had been deeply concerned, but didn't tell the two worried men what was wrong.  
  
"Um, actually Professor," Madame Pomfrey started awkwardly as she came out of her office, having heard that last comment about only having the Wizards Flu. "It's a little more serious than that."  
  
Her explanation was cut short however, as Harry came rushing into the hospital wing, still wearing his Auror robes and looking concerned. "I got a message at work that something had happened to Willow. Where's my wife?"  
  
"I'm right here Harry." Willow said in a resigned voice, afraid for what Poppy had been about to tell her. She had just thought it was wizards flu. Apparently-and sadly- not.  
  
"Are you okay love?" he asked, coming over and sitting on the bed that Willow was currently lying in. Willow's stomach roiled in protest at the sudden movement caused by this action, reminding her yet again that there was something abjectly wrong with her.  
  
"I don't know," she responded in a small voice to his rather large and ominous question. Indeed, at the moment, the answer could have several menacing connotations that Willow's brain was having no trouble imagining. "Poppy was just about to tell me."  
  
Madame Pomfrey looked awkward, her eyes shifting nervously from the couple on the bed to Sirius and Remus, who still sat with James in the corner of Willow's isolated infirmary room, one that had been set up specifically for professors. "Perhaps this would be best told only to you two for now...  
  
"Alright Poppy my love," Sirius got up and motioned for Remus to do the same, "We can take a hint. C'mon James. We'll just give your Mum and Dad a moment alone with the good doctor won't we?"  
  
They turned and started out the door, Remus turning only for a moment to tell them that they would be in the Potter's suite with the baby.  
  
"Right then," Poppy went on in a crisp, no- nonsense voice as the door closed. "You don't have the wizards flu. In fact, despite the fact that you fainted today, I'm not making you stay in the Infirmary for the night."  
  
"Really?" Willow said sarcastically, wanting Madame Pomfrey to just get to the point already.  
  
"Willow," Harry placed a soothing hand on his wife's in an attempt to calm her anger. "What's wrong with Willow then Madame Pomfrey?"  
  
"Nothing." She replied smugly, relishing the good news that she had for the hard-done-by Potters. Granted it was a little soon, but nonetheless, it was still good news. "Nothing that another 7 ½ months or so won't cure that is."  
  
There was a stunned silence at this news. Indeed, Willow had been assured by the book she had been sent by Buffy when she was having James that it was not likely a woman would get pregnant again if you were breast-feeding at the time. True there were a few isolated cases of this happening, but not enough that she and Harry had taken any precautions whatsoever. Apparently they were proving to be one of these isolated cases though.  
  
"I'm pregnant?!" Willow exclaimed loudly in an incredulous voice, breaking the silence. "I can't be pregnant. That's not possible..." She caught herself at this point and blushed darkly, remembering how possible it really was. "James is only 5 ½ months old, I have classes to teach and...and...we need to get rid of Voldemort. This is WAY too soon for this to happen." She broke off, still protesting.  
  
Poppy simply gave her a smirk. "Maybe by Muggle standards it's too soon. Wizarding pregnancies however are not ruled by biological deterrents like the fact that you were –and still are- breastfeeding James. They happen on their own time often in an effort to preserve and encourage the growth of wizarding society. In other words, stronger witches and wizards have to be more careful because their bodies are predisposed to reproduce due to their propensity at magic and the like." Seeing the confused and shocked look still on Willow's face, she went on in a gentler voice. "Your body heals faster when you're wielding magic more often as well. It stands to reason then that the reproductive system would heal faster from birth too."  
  
Willow suddenly realized that Harry was still silent. She turned to him, concerned about what his reaction would be. To her surprise, he was smiling gently. Indeed, she had been expecting shock, maybe reluctant acceptance that their family was growing yet again. But Harry looked happy, ecstatic even.  
  
"Harry?" she said quietly. "You okay?"  
  
"No," he said neutrally and Willow's heart fell. "I'm fabulous." The smile that had previously been flirting on his features grew exponentially until it reached a broad grin.  
  
"You're alright with this? I mean, we just had James. I'm in shock myself. I'd understand if you felt the same way." Willow said in a cautionary voice. She was excited herself, the shock giving way to more positive thoughts and feelings but she was unable to let them loose while she didn't yet have Harry's opinion on the matter.  
  
"Willow, we're having a baby. That's wonderful news." Harry said exuberantly. "So what if it's a little soon. James will just have a sibling that much closer in age to him. Ron and Ginny are like that... think of it this way, at least they'll have someone to go to Hogwarts with." Harry continued, so absorbed in reassuring Willow that he was all right with another baby that he missed the tears that were welling in his wife's eyes until they had turned into sobs. With a look of horrified confusion at what he did he placed an arm around her shoulders. "Um, Willow? Are you alright?"  
  
"Mm-hm," Willow sobbed. "You're just the most wonderful man. It's such a relief. You're okay with this. I'm not even sure I'm okay with this."  
  
"Of course I'm okay with this. What I'm not okay with is how sick you've been lately. That's the only negative thing I have to say about this entire situation." He drew her closer in an effort to calm her down. Suddenly, as quickly as they had started, the sobs lessoned to mere tears.  
  
"I know. It is odd isn't it? I wasn't nearly this sick with James..." Willow furrowed her brow, confused and more than a little tired.  
  
"I can explain that," Madame Pomfrey spoke up, having let Harry and Willow have the last few moments to talk about her news. "All pregnancies are different you understand. Add that into the fact that you've been sleeping and eating sporadically recently, I'd say that's why you've been so ill. Get some sleep and don't do anything strenuous for Merlin's sake." She handed Harry a vial of pills from her pocket. "And make sure she takes one of these once a day for the next month or so as needed. It should help with the nausea."  
  
Harry looked down at the vial in his hand and pocketed it. "Thank you Madame Pomfrey. We'll see you again...."  
  
"In a month." Poppy said, answering Harry's unspoken question before he gathered his drowsy wife up in his arms and headed for the door. "Oh and Mr. Potter?" She called after him.  
  
"Yes?" Harry turned, Willow still lying in his arms, now sleeping lightly.  
  
"Congratulations."  
  
And with that, Harry and Willow left the infirmary to tell their young son that he was going to be a brother, and the two men that Harry had come to regard as father figures in his life that they were going to be grandfathers again. 


	6. Repercussions

Repercussions  
  
Harry Potter entered the apartment he shared with his wife and son in shock. He was going to be a father again. He didn't know what he had done to deserve this wonderful gift that the powers that be and Willow had bestowed on him. The latter of the two however appeared to be as shocked as he was. But in a good way. At any rate, Willow appeared to have tired herself out and was now sleeping quietly in his arms as he murmured the password and entered the apartment.  
  
"Well?" A voice immediately assaulted him. It was Sirius.  
  
"Where's James?" Harry asked quietly, wondering what his godfather had done with his son in such a short period of time.  
  
"Remus is putting him to bed. Now what is wrong with her?" Sirius demanded. Indeed, through the short months Sirius had known his wife, he had come to consider her the goddaughter he never had and as such had become extremely overprotective.  
  
"I'd like to hear that too." Remus said softly as he came out of the master bedroom, where he had put a sleeping James down in his crib.  
  
Harry felt cornered. Personally, and seeing how he had missed the pregnancy experience with Willow the first time, he thought he might like an evening of hoarding the good news to his and Willow's selves. No such luck apparently.  
  
"Tell them Harry," murmured a drowsy Willow from her place snuggled into his chest.  
  
"You're up now?" Harry chuckled softly. Maybe she would be up to share the good news with Sirius and Remus?  
  
"No. Put me to bed and then tell them." Apparently not.  
  
Harry sighed deeply. Willow's wish was his command, especially in her condition. With a shrug in a smiling Sirius and Remus' direction, he took her to their bedroom and laid her down on the bed next to a sleeping James in his crib.  
  
"Are you sure you want them to know this way?" Harry asked as he magicked away her clothes and replaced them with her comfortable flannel Scooby-Doo pajamas that Xander had sent over as an early Christmas present.  
  
"What, with me sleeping in the other room? Sure. Besides," Willow yawned sleepily and crawled under the covers. "They're not going to leave the apartment until we tell them why I passed out today. They DID take me to the infirmary after all." She raised a hand up to Harry's cheek gently. "Just tell them for both of us please. Maybe they can help us come up with an alternative plan to deal with Voldemort then."  
  
Harry nodded, agreeing fervently with Willow's thought. The spell would have to be changed. There was no way they could go through with it now, not with another life hanging in the balance. Indeed, the original plan, hypothesized in bed after Harry and Willow's now infamous fight (after they had gotten off the sitting room rug of course) was to transfer Voldemort's dark magic into a body that could properly channel the energy i.e. Willow, and then destroy the Dark Lord's body. This had seemed a plausible way of disposing of him, seeing how Willow had come far through meditation and time with her coven to neutralizing the effect that the magic had on her body. By channeling it properly, she was now able to turn the dark energy into white magic instead of the overwhelming darkness that had in previous times overwhelmed her to the point of no return. Now though, the plan would have to be changed. Holding the dark energy would kill the baby inevitably and neither Harry nor Willow was prepared to sacrifice their child at the expense of Voldemort's ultimate defeat. No, a new plan would have to be thought up and Sirius and Remus were probably the best two people to help.  
  
However, this meant that the news would have to be shared with them and that not only meant the end to the intimate and cozy feeling that Harry would now have to share with the world (for Sirius would surely tell more people, including the Weasley's who would then tell more people) but an endless round of teasing on Harry's behalf. Granted the teasing would be good natured ribbing over Harry's apparently abundant virility, however Harry had never been a person who cared that much about the growth of his own ego. Despite the huge role he was being forced to participate in against Voldemort and his Death Eater's, he really was a shy and quiet man who didn't much like his privacy invaded. Indeed, early encounters with reporters like Rita Skeeter had left a sour taste in his mouth in regards to the journalistic profession in general.  
  
Personal opinions aside however, he would follow Willow's instructions. Quietly, he dropped a kiss on a now sleeping Willow's lips before leaving the room and shutting the door, leaving him alone with an anxious Sirius and Remus.  
  
"Well?!" Sirius demanded impatiently before being shoved down onto the couch by Remus, a weary and elated Harry joining the two in the sitting room and sitting down in his armchair that he had brought out of storage to bring to Willow's apartment at Hogwarts.  
  
A slow grin grew on Harry's face at the prospect of the news that he was about to impart to the men that collectively represented one half of Harry's parental units, Arthur and Molly representing the other half of course. "She's not sick. Don't worry." He paused for effect. "But I do have some other news to share."  
  
A grin of his own of shock and amazement began to show on Remus's face. Remus, it appeared, had always been quicker than Sirius. "She's not....." he scoffed.  
  
Harry nodded, confirming Remus' speculations.  
  
"Seriously?" the werewolf in question exclaimed in shock.  
  
"Yeah," Harry's grin grew more, if it were at all possible.  
  
"What?" Sirius asked in confusion, having completely missed the conversation that Harry and Remus had been having with half sentences. "What's wrong with Willow if she's not sick? What are you two talking about?"  
  
"Sirius," Remus broke in gently to calm the animagus. "She's pregnant."  
  
"Really?" Sirius paused to take it all in, looking shocked but smiling wryly, not missing an opportunity to tease his godson mercilessly. "Wow. You waste no time do you Potter?"  
  
"Sirius!" Remus scolded, watching as Harry went beat red in front of him. "Stop teasing Harry." He turned to the man in question. "I'm guessing this was a shock to you both?"  
  
Harry nodded affirmatively. "Um-hm. Willow more than I though. She kept insisting to Madame Pomfrey that it was too soon..."  
  
"How far along is she then?" Remus asked, smiling. Despite the suddenness of this announcement, he knew that Harry was happy about this revelation. After all, he HAD always wanted a family. Granted it was growing a little faster than he was sure Harry expected, but the fact remained that it WAS growing and the Boy-Who-Lived was visibly elated by the fact.  
  
"A month and a half," Harry said quietly, smugly.  
  
Remus raised his eyebrow. "The night of the fight then?"  
  
Harry blushed deeply, but nodded. "There are ramifications though. To the pregnancy of course." He looked up and met Remus's eyes. "The plan's going to have to change."  
  
"Have you talked to Willow about this?" Sirius broke in, concerned that once again Harry was making decisions for Willow that would only get him into trouble.  
  
"It was her idea," he murmured, taking his glasses off and rubbing a hand over to bridge of his nose in frustration. He was happy that they were going to have a baby. But he couldn't help but think that the timing was all wrong, despite what he had told Willow. Indeed, because of their neglect of birth control, they ran the risk of bringing a child into the world that not only was in danger from Voldemort, but whose entire existence put in jeopardy the means in which they were to get rid of the Dark Lord in the first place. But, he couldn't regret the baby. It was a part of Willow and himself, an extension of their love. He couldn't regret that, wouldn't let himself. But he couldn't help but worry that perhaps the baby's entire existence could be the last piece of the puzzle that would make Voldemort triumphant over the Order and Harry himself. Nonetheless, whatever happened he would go down fighting.  
  
"What do you have in mind?" Remus asked, sensing the conundrum of happiness and dread that Harry was now balancing in his mind.  
  
"I don't know. Research I guess. There has to be another way." He paused, gathering the strength to go on despite what his speculated actions would have on his family. "We're going to have to tell the Order as soon as possible. Maybe on Boxing Day, I don't want worrying to taint Christmas for Willow and James," Harry mused before turning his gaze on the two men sitting in front of him. "This changes everything."  
  
"He can't find out," Sirius broke in. "If he does, this waiting game he's subjecting us to will be OVER."  
  
"I know, Sirius," Harry said quietly. "That's why this news goes no further for the time being. Do NOT tell the Weasley's. Willow and I'll do that at Christmas and the next day we'll have the meeting."  
  
Sirius nodded in agreement. "Sounds good." With a sigh he stood and motioned for Remus to do the same. "Come on Remus. We've still got to pack before tomorrow. Big journey and all."  
  
Harry furrowed his brow in confusion. "Where are you two going tomorrow?"  
  
Identical sly looks slid onto Remus and Sirius's faces, one that Harry only saw when they were reminiscing on their days at Hogwarts as part of the Marauders with his father.  
  
"Nowhere you need concern yourself with Harry," Remus reassured him. "We'll see you at Christmas then?"  
  
Harry nodded, still brooding over the problem he and Willow now had with coming up with an alternative to the brilliant plan they had posited before.  
  
"Good then." Sirius opened the door to the apartment. "Oh and congratulations again Harry." He paused in thought, a very uncharacteristically Remus action of him, "And stop worrying. Everything's going to be fine."  
  
Remus simply looked up at the pensive father-to-be sitting in his sitting room worriedly. James had had the same look on his face when he had found out that Lily was expecting. James had also had the weight of Voldemort and his potential actions hanging over his head.  
  
He silently exchanged a look with Harry, conveying the same sentiment that Sirius had verbalized only moments ago before turning and following his best friend out the door. They had a mission for Dumbledore to accomplish and they needed supplies.  
  
Harry sat on the couch for a long time thinking before he went to bed that night. Now more than ever, he had to beat Voldemort once and for all. 


	7. The Scandalous Liaison of Emily Weasley

Chapter 8: The Scandalous Liaison of Emily Weasley  
  
Emily Weasley was bored. She had been trapped in the Burrow for four days now, her grandmother fussing on her constantly. Truth be told the fussing, however good intentioned, was beginning to wear on her.   
  
Her father was away again. In Japan this time according to the owl she had received when she had fallen ill with the wizard's flu. He wouldn't be back for another two days. This meant that she was stuck at the Burrow with her grandparents, her numerous aunts and uncles and their children, and her cousins (all of which were at least five years younger than her but who all lived at the Burrow now that Voldemort was active again).   
  
It wasn't as if they were bad people, far from it. It was just that they were so...noisy. Emily, much like her mother had been, was a very quiet person by nature. This was why she enjoyed her current position at Hogwarts so much. Willow and her husband were very quiet people most of the time, and strangely enough so was their son who only made noise when he either needed to eat or be changed. Emily had discovered very quickly though, that this was far from a good thing after James had stolen her wand from her for what seemed like the millionth time in class quite quietly and stealthily.  
  
And then there were her colleagues, former teachers of hers that until this year, when she had been accepted into the fold as assistant to Professor Rosenberg-Potter, had seemed quite simple. Indeed, as a student, she had only viewed her professors in one dimension. Now she knew how wrong she had been.  
  
They were interesting individuals to say the least. An example of this lay in Professor Dumbledore's obsession with matchmaking amongst the staff and students, assisted by his significant other, Professor McGonagall.   
  
These sorts of personal quirks that made them interesting were only the icing on the cake though. Through her time as Willow's assistant Emily had learned many revealing tidbits of information about her colleagues. This had been exemplified quite vividly at a particularly illuminating staff poker game at which Willow had taken her colleagues and husband for all they were worth.  
  
It turned out that the origins of the relationship in which Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore had been in for the last few decades had roots in the illicit. Indeed, during her own apprenticeship at the school, a young Minerva had been quite thoroughly wooed-and ultimately seduced- by a handsome and older Albus, furthermore, her supervising professor. Emily remembered quite plainly from that poker game her own feelings of relief at this news.  
  
It made Emily feel somewhat better about her own current love affair. True, while her own supervising professor was married and a woman for that matter, Emily had still managed to come up with her own illicit relationship to rival even Professor McGonagall's.   
  
His name was Severus Snape.   
  
Indeed, one evening early in the term she had been convinced by Willow to join Harry, Severus and herself for an evening of chess, conversation and fine brandy.  
  
She had found the man she had feared throughout her time at the school to be somewhat different from the man that sat across his living room from her chatting about the latest potion advancement with Willow.   
  
For one, he looked younger. This, Emily recognized from her work with Willow, was a result of a glamour Severus had taken to putting on himself throughout the years for some unknown reason. Well, not so unknown reason now. He had explained the reasons behind his transformation from a robust and youthful looking 44 year old to the haggard and pale late 50's man who taught potions to the dunderheads of the wizarding world one night during one of their last evenings as platonic friends. She smiled as she remembered the night that conversation had taken place. That had been the night everything had changed, his soulful eyes catching hers as she left that evening before dropping a searing kiss onto her very surprised lips.  
  
It hadn't been only his handsome looks that had attracted her to him though. It had been the conversation. Indeed, eventually Willow and Harry had gotten so busy with James and the ongoing struggle with Voldemort that it became routine for just Emily to meet with Severus, sometimes in his rooms and sometimes in hers. He was intelligent and presented a unique and refreshing challenge to Emily's often bored mind. The sorting hat HAD almost put her into Ravenclaw after all… At any rate, it wasn't long after these evenings once a week had become twice a week, then 3 times, until they were routinely seeking out the others company at dinner and after.  
  
It was only a matter of time before something happened to change this relationship.  
  
If she was able to admit it to herself, Emily would probably say that the attraction to him had started in her 7th year. He had always been an enigma to her, a puzzle of misery and weariness yet strength all rolled into one. She had longed to solve it for a long time. Now she had her chance.  
  
She hadn't taken it of course, Severus making the first move on that infamous night that had changed their relationship forever.  
  
He later blamed it on the amount of brandy they had drunk and they hadn't spoken to each other for two weeks, the awkwardness of two people longing for something they were both depriving themselves of becoming almost stifling in its all encompassing effect. Even the rest of the staff had felt it.  
  
She had endeavored, as the calendar marked the two week mark of their forced estrangement, to rid themselves of the proverbial elephant that was between them. What better way, furthermore what better location, she thought than to lock themselves in his potions classroom where her attraction for him had begun?   
  
Emily's smile grew as she remembered that day. They had fought at first, Severus insisting that she was far too young for a man of his age and that she could do better. Emily of course had already considered this and had come to the conclusion that she didn't care. She wanted him and she would have him. So, she did the only thing left that made any sense to their current dilemma of his hesitation and her headstrongness.   
  
She had seduced him thoroughly, as Dumbledore had Minerva many decades ago, making him lose control over himself and take her virginity on his desk in the potions classroom. She had only let them out of the room after he had had her once more, this time against the wall, and had promised that he wouldn't leave her 'for her own good'. With that spoken promise, he had carried her off to his apartment and ran a bath for her before laying her into his bed and making love to her for the third time that evening, this time slow and lovingly as compared to that first ravenous encounter and the second equally exploratory and explosive experience.   
  
They had been together ever since, keeping it a secret from their friends and family, although Emily was certain that Dumbledore knew, he always knew, as they explored their new relationship. So far, it hadn't gone beyond the physical aspects mixed occasionally with conversation and the odd game of chess (played in bed and interrupted by bouts of passions between moves so she wasn't sure that this counted….) but she knew that she was falling for him hard. One thing was for sure though; this sneaking around had to stop. Indeed Willow, Emily felt certain, was aware that she was conducting an affair with someone in the castle. She hadn't yet figured it out but Emily knew that the now-redheaded-again Professor would shortly if she and Severus continued as they had.  
  
She hadn't slept in her own bed in a month. Well, that is until she had gotten sick.  
  
This past week had been agony. The bed that she had slept in in both the infirmary and then in her more familiar room at the Burrow (which had been her fathers but had been given to her after the threat of Voldemort became too much for the Weasley family to reside in their own homes) felt cold and empty without the warm body of her lover. This wasn't the worst of the problem though. She missed him desperately, having resorted to daily exchanges of owls with the potions master in the last 4 days. The truth of the matter lay in the fact that Emily Weasley, despite telling herself that she shouldn't, had fallen in love.   
  
She had told her family that the owls were from a new boyfriend. They hadn't yet however gotten her to give them a name, though not through lack of trying. Emily was sure that a name at this point would be entirely too much for her family considering the fact that her new 'boyfriend' was older than her father AND, as if this wasn't bad enough, was Severus Snape. Her father, she knew, would be fairly supportive. That is, after he got over the shock. Indeed, since they had been reunited, her father had always said that if Emily was happy, then he would be too. The other members of her family though… her Uncle Ron's reaction alone would be enough to make her a fortune if she chose to sell tickets to the event.  
  
Shaking her head and willing herself to think of more positive topics, she mulled over what today was. It would mark the three month anniversary of the day that Emily had forcibly broken through the rough exterior that Severus presented to the world. The smile that had gathered on her face as she remembered those days grew until a grin replaced it. It was true about what was said of impromptu sex. ESPECIALLY, impromptu sex in inappropriate places, like the potions classroom. It really was the best.  
  
And so Emily sat in the room that had once belonged to her father at the Burrow and thought about her lover, unaware that at Hogwarts, Severus was doing much the same thing.  
  
It was perfectly wretched the emotions she was capable of making him feel Severus Snape thought as he wrote out a reply to the owl he had received from Emily Weasley, his lover of three months. Somehow, she had worked her ways under his skin until she was as much a part of him as his liver, or kidney. A heart would probably be more appropriate to his current situation however.   
  
Indeed, in an impossibly short time, he could honestly say that he had fallen head over heels in love with the woman that could have been his daughter if one were to compare their ages critically. With a sigh, he raised a hand up to rub his eyes wearily. He missed her, ached inside with the emptiness in his bed and in his life.  
  
Willow, he thought, had had a hand in this. The beginning of the relationship at least as he was certain that a sweet young woman like Emily, at least the Emily he had known as a student here at Hogwarts, had been incapable of instigating a relationship with someone who had frightened her as much as he had without a spot of help. Certainly Willow, and probably Harry too, had had a part in the suspicious disappearing act that the pair had participated in in regards to the get togethers that he had Willow had shared for so long, leaving Emily and himself quite alone to marinate in their own thoughts and growing feelings.   
  
Indeed, the evenings of brandy and conversation had changed slightly when Willow had become a mother and Harry had returned. For one, Willow was less inclined to stay up as late or as frequently as she once was and for another, her husband generally joined them when he had a free evening from the hectic and unpredictable schedule the Aurors were subjected to on a daily basis. Emily had joined them soon after her arrival at Hogwarts as Willow's assistant and Severus couldn't have been more annoyed.   
  
At first he had viewed her as inferior, a creature to be indulged as she grew older and wiser, but certainly nothing more than a former student that was now biding her time as an assistant professor while she waited to begin her training as a curse breaker for Gringotts, like her father.   
  
How wrong he had been.  
  
Emily had turned out to be intelligent, open-minded, strangely mature for her 18 years, and inordinately attractive. It was a fact that had nearly driven him crazy as the attraction he felt for her grew and he forcibly tried to squash down into a hidden corner of his psyche. It hadn't worked.   
  
He shuddered yet again as her age flashed before his eyes. Barely legal really. He should be quite ashamed of himself, but he wasn't. Albus and Minerva had started their relationship when she had been the same age and that had worked out. The question remained though: did he WANT this very strange and new thing in his life to work out?  
  
It was true, she was extremely young, still a child really. Indeed, his own age of 44 seemed ancient when put in contrast with her 18. But, she had been insistent that they at least explore the attraction that they felt for each other before disregarding it completely. And Emily could be quite persuasive when she wanted to be. He gave a light groan as he remembered how persuasively she had pushed him off the ledge of control he had been balancing himself on after that fateful kiss as she was leaving his apartment that now infamous evening. Two weeks later, she had cornered him in his potions classroom, a place he had later discovered had been a part of her fantasies for a year (of him no less), and seduced him.   
  
Severus was still lightheaded from the swiftness of the transition. One minute, he had been arguing with her over the inherent wrongness in any further actions they might participate in and the next, she had gotten his pants off somehow and was on her knees before him, giving him a rather expert blowjob.  
  
And that had been that. He had pulled her up before he had lost it completely, returning the favour to most satisfactory results before taking her virginity on his desk.   
  
Afterwards, common sense had returned, but once again, Emily would have none of his excuses and had insisted that he at least ignore the age difference that seemed to bother him so much for that evening. And he had, making love to her against the wall of the classroom before carrying her back to his suite of rooms and doing it all over again, this time in the bed that they would share off and on for the next three months. Truthfully, it wasn't the age difference that bothered him. Indeed, many wizarding marriages and relationships were made between much older men and younger women. It was an accepted trend. He was more concerned about what her family would do.  
  
Severus could honestly say that he was more afraid of what the Weasley family would do to him if they found out he was dallying with Emily than of Voldemort himself.  
  
And with good reason. Not only was he older than her father, Bill Weasley, but he was, in the words of Emily's uncles and aunt, a 'greasy git.' He was sure that for these reasons alone he could kiss any acceptance he might have received good bye.   
  
They had decided to keep their affair secret because of this fact, at least until either of them mustered up the courage to spill the beans to her family, although this was starting to wear on him. He was in love for the first time in his life and all he wanted to do was shout it from the rooftops, a huge leap for the man that had always been so quiet and contained. He had never felt like this before.  
  
With a sigh, he broke himself out of his thoughts to continue the letter he was writing to his beloved. She had been locked up in the Burrow for four days now as she recovered from her battle with the wizards flu, but the mediwitch had declared her fit and healthy only this morning. With this in mind then (and the ache he felt in his heart and his groin for her driving his hand to write what they both desired), did Severus Snape write to her now, extending an invitation to return to Hogwarts (now deserted save for a few students and teachers) for the evening. He smiled wryly. Perhaps she would be able to sneak out tonight for a few hours. One could always hope. Chuckling lightly, he turned to the task at hand, imagining his bed warm for the first time in a week, and an even warmer body lying next to his.


	8. It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

**Chapter 9: It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year**

Hello all. This is your author speaking. Before we get into the latest chapter, let me just make you all aware of my yahoogroup where all the missing smut filled chapters (available to those of you who are over 18 of course) are housed. Here's the address, I hope to see you all there: http: groups. yahoo. com/ group/ firegoddess HPBtVSfanfiction/ (Please disregard the space I've supplied in the URL; otherwise the software fanfiction.net uses wouldn't let me put the link up. Enjoy.

* * *

Hermione wasn't sure how Christmas had managed to sneak up on her so fast this year. Silently contemplating this, she reached over for the mug of hot chocolate that Molly had brought in to her when she had come home from Diagon Alley after finishing up some last minute Christmas shopping and took a sip as she sat on the couch in the living room of the Burrow, holding her daughter as she played on her lap. 

Maybe it was because of the intensity of the battle the Order and she faced with removing the threat of Voldemort from the wizarding world. Then again, it might have been the fact that she was a mother now, a detail that had come to consume her in its entirety and which also made her life move all the more quickly. She smiled as she looked down at the red-haired angel that had come into her life. Indeed, her daughter Brianna was an active 5 and a half months old now and Hermione could conclusively say that she had become the reason why Ron and she didn't go insane from the pressures forced upon them by firstly their jobs, (as Aurors at the Ministry, or in Hermione's case as a member of the research team that worked primarily from home with Ginny) and secondly from the demands the Order was increasingly forcing upon its members. Hermione almost felt resentful at its intrusion into her now almost idyllic life with the man she loved and the daughter they both adored. However, she kept reminding herself that it was all for a good cause. Harry's life and the life of all muggle born wizards and witches ultimately hung in the balance. Ironically, Hermione knew that it wouldn't be the Order that would be the final nail in Voldemorts coffin though. No, it was probably Harry's own wife Willow that would be his saving grace. 

Hermione frowned. This was a fact that had become a source of concern for the Order. Indeed, relying too heavily upon one person or idea was never a good idea. To coin a Muggle phrase: it was far better to avoid putting all of your eggs into one basket. She and Ginny had had a chat just that morning about the role that Willow would have to play in helping her husband. From that tumultuous fight that the group had witnessed between the two spouses, it was readily apparent that Harry wanted Willow to have no part of the ultimate solution to the Voldemort issue, though Hermione knew that this desire was not to be as Willow was the only person that they could trust to be capable of stealing and then harnessing the kind of black magic that the dark lord contained within his entire being. As long as nothing happened to prevent the plan from going on as intended, at their next meeting Harry would be able to take on Voldemort, hopefully banishing him to the dark recesses of Hell, and finally being able to move on with his life. That is, if Willow was indeed up to the task. 

Lately Harry's wife had been feeling quite ill, as was apparent at Hermione's last visit only yesterday before Hogwarts Yule Ball. While appearing to be happy about something (Hermione was still trying to figure that one out…) she had had to leave the room twice to be sick before Harry had come home from the Ministry, taken one look at his still-green-around-the-gills wife and shuffled Hermione out of the apartment so that he could put Willow to bed for an hour or so. She shook her head confusedly in memory of the overprotective behaviour. Something wasn't right and even Hermione's overly quick brain was having difficulty processing an answer at the moment. 

Her thoughts were broken however by the sound of someone falling out of the fireplace. Three someone's actually. Indeed, since it was now Christmas Eve, Willow, Harry and James were joining the Weasley's for Christmas and had left Hogwarts later than expected because Willow had had to chaperone the Yule Ball the previous evening in Emily's place. Indeed, while the Yule Ball had been last night, the Potters had gone to bed very early that morning (due to the need for patrolling the hallways for amorous teenagers out of bed) and had decided to show up for dinner that evening. Brianna, who had been playing quietly with the stuffed bunny her Uncle Bill had given her the day she had been born, began to gurgle happily at the sight of her best friend joining them in the living room. 

James and Brianna had been inseparable since birth, joining forces with Draco and Ginny's son Algernon. Indeed, Severus Snape had verbally recognized the threat the trio would have to his sanity at Hogwarts when they went in 11 years. At any rate, Brianna was lucky in the fact that James was able to join her at all as his mother straightened up from having fallen out of the fireplace and nearly dropped him in her haste of passing him off to Harry and, turning a deep shade of green, made a dash for the hall bathroom. Harry and Hermione both winced as retching sounds reached them even from the distance the living room and the hallway provided. 

"Is she okay?" Hermione asked sympathetically as her best friend sat down on the couch and placed James in his lap, handing him the stuffed frog that she and her daughter had brought out from Brianna's crib along with the bunny when they had come home from shopping. 

"Yeah," Harry clipped out in a concerned and distracted manner, smiling slightly at James who took the frog eagerly from his godmother. "She'll be fine." 

Hermione was silent at this, unsure of how to broach the subject of Willow's health when Harry so obviously wanted her to leave it alone. In the end she decided to let it go, knowing full well that if the behaviour continued then she and Ron would most likely be able to extricate the information from him. After all, they had been dealing with Harry's moods and his subsequent secret keeping for the last 13 years. 

"It's stress," Harry said awkwardly, feeling guilty that he couldn't tell the woman that had been one of his best friends since he was 11 the secret that they he and Willow had only shared with a select few at Hogwarts. "What with Emily being ill it's been difficult for Willow to juggle her classes and James. And I've been busy tracking down Lucius Malfoy." 

Hermione nodded. This explanation made sense….sort of. But Willow even at her most stressed had never gotten floo sick before. Nonetheless, Hermione refused to interrogate her friend when he and his family had only just gotten here. She was saved from her own inquisitive nature as Molly came into the room, having heard Willow rush into the bathroom just moments ago. 

"Is Willow alright Harry?" Molly asked in a concerned voice. 

Harry ran a frustrated hand through his already messy hair. How was he supposed to tell a white lie to the closest thing to a mother he had ever had? "Um-hm," he murmured. "She'll be fine." Sensing that this explanation wouldn't be enough for Molly, he went on, spinning the same half truth that he had fed to Hermione only a minute ago. "With Emily sick, she's been dealing with a lot more classes and the stress is getting to her I guess." 

Harry could tell she didn't buy it, but like Hermione, she let it pass. This was a good thing because Willow had just appeared in the doorway, still slightly green, but standing upright at least. Indeed, Harry had found in the week that they had found out she was pregnant that Willow had a tendency to fall over a lot when she was suffering from her 'morning' sickness (which should, in Harry's opinion, be called evening sickness because Willow was rarely ill in the morning and like clockwork would become sick about 5 o'clock each night). Harry had found that to put her to bed for an hour and enjoy a late supper chased by the pills that Madame Pomfrey had given them in their suite was the best cure for the nausea. Due to the severe need to keep the pregnancy a secret however, Willow would have to pretend to be well and simply suffering from stress until Christmas dinner, when they would announce their news to the whole group after getting them to sign a self hexing non-disclosure form like the one Hermione had devised when Harry had formed the D.A. back in 5th year. Granted, it was only an evening that Willow would have to pretend, but Harry knew how much of a struggle it was for Willow to lie to those she cared about most. 

Holding a hand to her stomach and closing her eyes lightly, Willow shuffled across the room to sit down between her husband and Hermione on the couch. With a sigh, she lay her head onto his shoulder gently and shut her eyes once more, all the while willing the inexorable nausea away. 

"Willow sweetheart, are you alright?" Molly asked gently as she knelt down in front of the woman she had come to regard as another daughter. "Can I get you anything?" 

Willow shook her head briskly, closing her eyes again as the nausea fell over her in a wave 

before receding into the recesses of her body for the moment. She wanted to answer Molly, really she did, but she knew if she opened her mouth she would probably have to make a break for the bathroom again. Beside her, James reached a hand up to touch his mothers face gently. Apparently he was concerned too. 

"Alright then," Molly continued, unsure of how to deal with the problem of Willow's health. This was not just stress. But for now, as she watched Willow drift off to sleep on the couch, she would wait to get an answer. 

For how long would be entirely up to Harry and Willow. 

* * *

Arthur Weasley walked into his kitchen at midnight on Christmas Eve with Sirius and Remus, who had returned triumphant from their mission for Dumbledore. Indeed, it had been difficult stealing the Amulet of Egatharthus out from under the nose of the Death Eaters who guarded it, but in the end, aided by some of his sons Fred and George's more ingenious incendiary devices, they had emerged triumphant. Arthur knew what a success this was. The amulet would enable the wearer to be impervious to hexes and curses. This of course would be quite important to Harry if he expected to get himself and his wife through the final battle which, at least last time Arthur checked, involved Willow drawing the power from Voldemort using a very controversial spell she had discovered in one of the dark arts books Mr. Giles had sent to her and then destroying the body. The largest concern about this plan stemmed from the fact that Willow would need to be protected somehow. The amulet solved the inevitable problem of allowing Willow to move into position unhindered by stray hexes while she performed the complex spell. The retrieval of said amulet then had become a top priority for the Order and now that it had been recovered, they could all enjoy Christmas a little easier. 

Arthur was torn from his inner musings by the growl of his own stomach. Indeed, the three men had missed dinner due to their mission and now the senior Weasley felt the need to rectify that situation not just for himself, but for the two men that had accompanied him on the mission and who were staying with his family for the holidays. With a sigh of happiness, he turned to the stove and the meal that Molly had placed a heating charm on in anticipation of their arrival. Mmm, he thought, motioning to his compatriots to grab a plate of the roast chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy and the side of steamed beans that his loving wife had left out for them. They had just sat down when Harry entered the room, clad in his pajamas and robe and looking as if the world itself rested upon his shoulders. Sadly in Harry's case, this was kind of true. 

"What are you doing up Harry?" Remus asked as he took a sip of his butterbeer. 

Harry, who hadn't noticed the three men currently stuffing their faces with Molly's excellent dinner, started visibly. "Oh it's just you," he said wearily, running a hand through his wild hair. "How'd the mission go?" 

Remus exchanged mischievous looks with Sirius and Arthur. "Good. Mission accomplished." 

"What exactly were you two up to then?" Harry furrowed his brow in confusion. After all, he was still curious to know what the mysterious mission had been in the first place. Apparently he wasn't going to find out anytime soon though as the three men in front of him immediately clammed up. 

"That's not something you need to know right now Harry," Arthur began awkwardly, knowing that the boy-who-lived would have issues with this answer. "But I can promise you at the meeting on Boxing Day you will be told all about it along with everyone else." 

Harry seemed strangely content with this answer instead of the usual anger that emerged when faced with seeing his curiosity denied. Indeed, he simply nodded his head and moved to boil some water for tea. 

Arthur was perplexed. Harry had never let the adults-and now his peers-get away with that kind of answer before. Something must be bothering him. "Harry, are you sure you're quite alright?" 

"Hmmm?" Harry murmured distractedly as he wandlessly boiled the water in the kettle over the stove and poured it into the teapot to steep. "What was that Arthur?" 

"Nothing," he replied suspiciously, watching as Harry picked up the teapot and moved to sit it on the table. Something was up and he knew what it was. From the reports of Willow's odd health that Hermione and Ginny had verbalized to Molly and himself, added to Harry's distracted behaviour, Arthur knew exactly what was happening. "So when's Willow due?" 

Harry dropped the teapot mid transport; splattering hot tea all over his pajama clad legs and the floor. Three cooling charms immediately were unleashed causing the potential burning that Harry would have suffered to be downgraded to a slight sting. He let out a frustrated sigh; he was tired of keeping the secret to himself. With a pointed look to Arthur, he summoned a sheaf of paper from the room where his wife slept peacefully with his son. Arthur had guessed correctly and from the triumphant look on his face, he knew it. That still didn't mean that the problem couldn't be contained until he and Willow got around to telling the rest of the family their surprise the next evening. "Here," he said, passing the sheaf off to Arthur and conjuring a quill. "Sign this." 

"And just what is this?" the redhead asked in a confused voice while taking in the names of several of the Hogwarts teachers and Sirius and Remus that was already written on the parchment. 

"It's a non disclosure form. In order for Harry to either deny or confirm your guess, you need to sign this." Remus said gently, watching as Harry put the teapot back together and cleaned up the mess he had made before apparently giving up on the idea of tea and sitting down at the table with the three men and the non disclosure form. 

"You two have signed this then?" Arthur murmured, pointing to the signatures. 

Sirius nodded in confirmation of this fact. "Um-hm. It's important that you do too." 

Arthur nodded. If what he suspected of Willow was true, then she and the unborn child would be in grave danger. Indeed, he couldn't believe the excellent timing of Dumbledore's mission. The Amulet of Egatharthus couldn't have been found at a more appropriate time. With no hesitation, he picked up the quill and signed. 

"Right then," Harry was suddenly all business, immediately placing a silencing charm on the kitchen before turning back to Arthur. The neutral and grim look that had been on Harry's face since he had come into the kitchen suddenly was replaced by a smug grin. "July." 

"July what?" Arthur asked, confused by the one word answer. 

"Willow's due in July," Harry smiled, watching as a smile of Arthur's own grew on his face. Harry knew how much he and Molly regarded James as one of their own grandchildren. And the one thing the Weasley head of the family enjoyed the most was more family. 

"Is she really then…." Arthur mused happily. "Congratulations." 

"How's she been feeling?" Remus asked gently, concern for Harry's wife driving him to ask. After all, it was he who had been the one to comfort her at Harry's funeral and he had come to think of her as the child he never had. Never would have for that matter. He frowned slightly. His relationship with Tonks hadn't progressed since that forbidden evening since Harry had returned. He hadn't heard from her since the morning after Sirius and his godson had graced them with their presences from the great beyond they had fallen into. According to the Ministry, she was on a secret undercover mission but Remus wasn't sure he believed this excuse. Indeed, all the other missions she had been on, undercover or otherwise, had never lasted more than a month. Tonks had now been gone for 5 and a half. He was broken from his inner dialogue with himself as Harry responded to his question. 

"Sick as a dog," Harry grimaced, remembering that evening. Willow had woken up from her nap on the couch only to be sick twice more and sent up to bed by Molly who Harry strongly suspected knew exactly what was wrong with his wife. "The pills that Madame Pomfrey gave us aren't helping." 

Arthur's brow furrowed. "I don't recall Willow being sick this often with James." 

"She wasn't." Remus broke in, remembering. Willow had only been really sick the day of Harry's funeral and that, the former werewolf knew, had been from grief and not from the baby. "Just tired and moody," he paused. "Have you thought about seeing a doctor about this Harry?" 

Harry stilled, contemplating whether or not he wanted to reveal this next secret. Only Madame Pomfrey knew so far, and that was because she had discovered it that morning when Harry and Willow had gone to the infirmary because she had been so sick the past evening. "Yeah, we did." 

"And?" Sirius, who couldn't stand secrets and was tired of being left out of the conversation, demanded impatiently. 

"Sometimes with multiple pregnancies the symptoms of morning sickness are more pronounced," Harry said quietly, remembering how Poppy had given Willow a potion to drink that would identify the reason why she had been so ill and the two small lights that had emerged from his wife's abdomen, indicating the presence of twins. Normally Madame Pomfrey was reluctant to use the potion she had used on Willow that morning as it not only exposed multiples and other issues involving pregnancy, but the sex of the child or children involved. Harry and Willow had closed their eyes when she had administered the test then, wanting to be surprised but content to know that the plausible reason behind Willow's inability to keep many things down in the evenings stemmed from the fact that she and Harry were having twins. 

"Multiples?" Remus, normally calm and collected, deadpanned. 

"Twins," Harry confirmed Remus's question. 

"Twins?" Sirius exclaimed, shocked. If Voldemort found out about this they all would be doomed. Indeed, everyone knew that pregnant witches had a decent amount of control over their magic but not when they were carrying more than one child. Something about the increase of hormones created an unstable environment in which the magic could flow through the body. If he recalled correctly, Arthur had once complained that the broom had spontaneously combusted one day when Molly had been using it and had been 7 months along with Fred and George. 

"Twins," Harry said once again. It had been a shock for him too but apparently they ran in Willow's family, Willow herself having had a twin that had been stillborn and her mother being one herself. 

"Harry," Arthur began quietly, knowing that this subject had to be spoken of. "You do realize that Willow will be quite volatile to be around during this time and like it or not Voldemort may decide to take advantage of this fact." 

Harry nodded. He knew the facts. Madame Pomfrey had made sure of that. "We have a plan to hide it from prying eyes." 

"And just how do you propose to do that?" Arthur demanded good-naturedly, curious as to what Harry had planned. 

"Well, that non-disclosure agreement causes the signer to be unable to tell others or even think about the secret unless Willow or I cast the spell enabling the signer to speak of it for one. For another, Willow will be wearing a glamour to make her appear as she normally does." Harry shook his head wearily. Despite the terrifically bad timing, they HAD managed to come up with a good contingency plan to deal with the situation. Now if they could only decide on a new route in which to destroy Voldemort… 

"And what of Voldemort?" Arthur demanded once more, this time a little more firmly. Harry shrugged in defeat, thus answering for Arthur the reason why he had entered the kitchen that evening looking so despondent. "Why do you think I called the meeting so soon? I'm terrified that because of the bad timing this pregnancy had seized upon that the spell Willow found will be replaced by an inadequate one that will end up killing us and not the Death Eaters." 

With a sigh, Arthur leaned over and placed a hand onto Harry's shoulder. "It'll be alright Harry. The Order will know what to do." Arthur Weasley prayed that they would. 


	9. Subterfuge and Undeclared Feelings

**_Hidden Truths Chapter 10: Subterfuge and Undeclared Feelings_**

This is the safe and virtuous version for all you fanfiction.netters. If you want the smut (and you are a responsible 18 or over) you can join me at my yahoogroup (excuse the spaces, it's one url, there aren't really spaces but it won't let me post the address as is…): http: groups. yahoo. com/ group/ firegoddessHPBtVSfanfiction/

Enjoy!

* * *

Emily cringed as her foot hit yet another creaky floorboard on her journey down the stairs of the Burrow. It was just her luck that the only fireplace in her grandparent's home was in the living room, far, far away from her own bedroom upstairs.  
  
It was 11 PM on Christmas Eve and everyone was asleep. Well, mostly everyone. She knew for a fact that her grandfather was off somewhere doing something with Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. And as for Harry, Willow's husband well, Emily had never been stupid. She knew something was up if only from his behaviour, the same behaviour in fact that was causing him to be outside in the garden right now, sitting quietly by himself.  
  
She had learned in the few short months she had been at Hogwarts that Harry couldn't hide anything from the world. He wore his heart on his sleeve and his emotions on his face. Certainly the Occlumency lessons had helped, but that was just his mind that was being shielded. His face and behaviour were a different story. He was deeply in love with his wife, that was for sure. But that was ultimately his downfall, as it had become readily apparent that it was due to something with Willow that he had been so agitated this evening, thus causing the ill-timed brooding in the garden.  
  
Emily took the last few steps blessedly creak-free but distracted enough by her train of thought not to notice, worry for the thin redhead currently sleeping upstairs clouding her mind. Something with Willow indeed. Since the moment she had come out of the fireplace she had been ill. Emily only hoped she hadn't given the wizards flu to her supervisor because that would definitely be detrimental to the quality of her employer's first Christmas with her new family.  
  
She frowned as she descended the final step into the hallway and turned right into the deserted living room, absentmindedly picking some floo powder up from the pot on the mantle and lit the fire in the grate with a flick of her wand. Frankly she didn't know what was wrong with Willow OR Harry and it really wasn't any of her business. They would tell her when they were ready.  
  
But now wasn't the time for thinking of these very serious thoughts. No, now was the time for her to think...naughty thoughts. For the last few days, that was all she HAD been thinking about. Indeed, after a week away from her lover, she had decided to break their involuntary separation and two nights ago she had shown up at his quarters at Hogwarts. She smiled as the naughty thoughts once again made an appearance and after all, a girl couldn't very well go out on what, to Severus' chagrin, she referred to as a booty call without the prerequisite naughty thoughts. Indeed, judging by the fact that all she was wearing at the moment was a black lace underwear set and a trench coat, and the other small detail that he had written her with the idea just that afternoon, albeit for an game of 'chess' and brandy (Emily knew what this REALLY meant), this was very much a booty call.  
  
With a mischievous giggle, she stepped into the fireplace and dropped the powder at her feet, voicing her destination firmly. This was going to be fun.  
  
Severus Snape was grading papers. On Christmas Eve. With a sigh, he rubbed a hand across his face and dropped his head to the table. He needed a life. Well, he had one; it just wasn't a great life.  
  
Indeed, it had been a most horrid day. Not only had he been forced to participate in Albus' insipid Christmas traditions but he had also been responsible for catching 3 couples in most revealing positions as he was doing his rounds that evening. He, like Willow, who had expressed her hatred for these hormonal explosions just last evening after the Yule Ball, positively dreaded doing rounds at this time of year. After all, between the season and the distinct lack of homework in which to suppress their dreadful urges, Christmas time was also a prime season for all sorts of bad behaviour.  
  
Severus snarled, throwing his quill down in frustration at the absolutely dreadful answer as to what a bezoar was from a first year (in his house for the record; he would have to have a chat with the prefects sometime in the next few weeks about buttoning down on curfew and other study-detrimental habits that could distract from the academic expectations Severus demanded from his Slytherins).  
  
He had to admit to himself though that it was the fact that she was late that was ultimately driving him mad. She being his lover Emily Weasley. Indeed, she had said she'd be here an hour ago and while he had to admit that getting out of her crowded house unseen could be a problem, it hadn't been an issue last night. Or the night before that. No, Severus attributed her lateness to the fact that there were now 3 aurors staying in her home instead of the usual two. He sighed, perhaps it was time that they told her family. It would certainly make things easier. Or harder, depending on how they reacted. At any rate, now was not the time to think of this, or the stack of unmarked papers that still sat on his desk in front of him. It was far worse matters that plagued his mind at the moment. He was interrupted from his inner turmoil though by the sound of the floo network opening and a thump as Emily fell onto the floor in a sooty heap.  
  
Suddenly smiling, he stood up and walked over to help her up, pulling her into a deep kiss.  
  
"Hey," Emily said quietly, pulling away and licking her lips. "I've missed you."  
  
"It's only been a day," he said smoothly, his voice belying the fact that he too had missed her so badly it hurt.  
  
"I know," she murmured, backing up from him and looking up at the clock as it began to strike midnight. "Merry Christmas."  
  
"Merry Christmas," he smiled again, backing away himself to pour two brandies, the drink of choice for he and his lover before setting one for her on the coffee table and sitting down on the couch. Truthfully, all he wanted to do was drag her off to his bedroom and prove to her exactly how much he had missed her but he thought that would give her the idea that he had only written her for the physical aspect of their relationship which couldn't be farther from the truth. Not only was she an excellent conversationalist but she never failed to give him a run for his money in chess as well. After all, their relationship was not based entirely upon sex. Far from it in fact. As he had mused while he wrote his last letter to her days ago, it was a relationship based in mutual respect, friendship and, at least on his past, love. The fact that she shagged like a minx was beyond the point.  
  
"I got you a present," she said huskily, drawing a small box out of her pocket and enlarging it with her wand. She shrugged, "Actually I got you two."  
  
Carefully, she sat the box on the coffee table, next to her untouched brandy, and removed her trench coat. "I'm sorry that it isn't wrapped."  
  
Severus' mouth went dry at the sight of her scantily clad body and the glass of brandy he had been holding dropped to the stone floor of his dungeon quarters, shattering into a million tiny shards. Apparently she didn't feel like talking.  
  
He could deal with that.

* * *

Emily came back to herself slowly, her sated body waking from the light nap she had taken after screwing her lover into the stupor he was enjoying right at the moment. Unfortunately, it was on top of her and she was rapidly losing all feeling in her left arm which had somehow become lodged between the couch cushions that they currently were lying on.  
  
"Severus," she murmured into his ear. "My arm's falling asleep."  
  
No further explanation needed, her lover sat up slightly and extricated himself from on top of her, instead pulling her closer and shifting them so that they lay facing each other on the green couch in his quarters while simultaneously reaching up to grab the throw he kept on the top of the couch to cover them. With a sigh, she looked him straight in the eyes and smiled as he stared at her unabashedly.  
  
"What?" she finally asked, unnerved by the way he was looking at her.  
  
He shook his head, smirking. "Nothing."  
  
"Well, it's obviously something, otherwise you wouldn't be looking at me as if...." she stopped, afraid to voice what she thought she saw in his eyes. Surely it couldn't be love. That would be too much to hope for. After all, she was madly in love with him and from the look she had just observed as he stared at her, he might be feeling the same way. She wouldn't be the first one to bring up the subject though. What if she was wrong?  
  
Severus cleared his throat awkwardly, knowing from the look in Emily's own eyes that she knew exactly what she had seen. He didn't respond though, choosing instead to let her take the next step in the conversation.  
  
"So," she said, feeling distinctly out of her element with the conversation. Somehow talking about her feelings had always been difficult for her. That's not to say that she didn't HAVE feelings worthy of being talked about, it was just that in her family, it was understood that any emotion she chose to voice would not be shot down in big flamey balls of embarrassment and disappointment. She couldn't ensure that the man currently lying naked under the covers next to her would show her the same courtesy despite the fact that she could honestly say that he was probably the person she trusted the most in the world. That didn't mean that she trusted him with her heart.  
  
"So," Severus drawled, hauling her closer to him and kissing her gently.  
  
"You had a meeting the other night?" she said, returning the kiss but deciding that some actual conversation had to occur despite the purpose Emily had originally intended.  
  
"Yes," Severus turned somber as he remembered the Deatheaters meeting he had attended three evenings ago.  
  
"But you're alright? No injuries this time?" she inquired anxiously, remembering how she, Willow and Poppy Pomfrey had had to nurse him back to health after the last meeting he had gone to a month ago. Indeed, Voldemort had been displeased with his latest attempt at a potion designed to induce rapid internal bleeding within the victim. Severus was still trying to come up with a potion for him and that had again been the subject for the meeting the other night.  
  
"No," he continued, oblivious to the musings going on in his lovers head. "No injuries, just memories."  
  
"Worse than injuries then," she murmured, tracing a finger lightly over his arm where the dark mark lay before shifting herself on the couch and laying her head down onto his chest.  
  
"Um-hm. The potion. It didn't work," he paused, drawing her closer and putting his arm around her. "That was my fault, I added English Adder's Tongue to the mix. The expressed juice of the leaves is drunk as a treatment…..¦"  
  
"For internal bleeding and bruising," Emily finished for him smugly. "I did get an Outstanding on my potions NEWT you know."  
  
"Yes, I'm aware," Severus smirked before continuing. "Anyways, it was possible that he might have put me through what I was subjected to at the last meeting, but for some reason he didn't." He paused yet again and then, neutrally, "No, we tortured Muggles instead."  
  
Emily raised her head off his chest to give him a horrified look.  
  
Severus droned on with his story though, oblivious to the sympathetic look now being sent his way by Emily. "And then, before we all left to dispose of the bodies, the Dark Lord decided to regale us with a tale of one of his small victories over the Order." He cleared his throat.  
  
"What victory?" Emily furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

Severus reached down to grip Emily's chin gently, tipping it up so he could look her in the eye. "Nymphadora Tonks is now in the custody of the Death Eater's."


	10. Announcements of a Controversial Nature

**Hidden Truths Chapter 11: Announcements of a Controversial Nature**  
  
"They what?!" Remus exclaimed as he sat at a long table in the Room of Requirement, appalled at the now revealed explanation as to where Tonks had gotten off to.   
  
"Shhh!!!" Severus shushed the former werewolf harshly. "Only Dumbledore, myself, and now you know, and the rest won't be told until the meeting starts." Indeed, he had gotten up this morning (Emily had of course left around 3 AM in order to be at home when Christmas morning arrived) only to have been hit with the dreadful realization that somehow he was going to have to break the news to Remus, a man he knew cared deeply for the woman in question. Now, as the Order gathered on Christmas evening, (a change that had only occurred that morning after Willow and Harry's secret had inadvertently gotten loose when Molly had correctly diagnosed Willow's mysterious symptoms) Severus had decided to do something rather kind for a change and not subject Remus to a huge shock in front of everyone.  
  
Remus was quiet, still in shock and then…"Well, why didn't you try to get her out then?"  
  
Severus shook his head wearily. "I don't know where she is just that she's been taken. Voldemort does not divulge those kinds of secrets to everyone. Lucius would know, he got him out of the veil after all." He sighed. "But I am afraid that he may be starting to suspect where my loyalties truly lie." He paused, hesitant to say what needed to be said to the former werewolf but knowing that it needed to be said. "Remus, until we tell the Order about this, there's really nothing that can be done."   
  
Remus nodded his head shakily in acknowledgement. He was deathly afraid for Tonks right now but Severus was right. Until the Order was made aware of the situation, nothing could happen and even then….Remus wondered how a rescue mission could be arranged without blowing Snape's cover completely. His thoughts were broken as Harry sat down next to him.  
  
"How's everything going over here?" Harry asked, having not liked the intensity of the conversation he had observed from across the room where he had been chatting with Dumbledore. It wasn't that he didn't trust Snape. On the contrary, he trusted him with his life. It was just that with the history Remus and Severus had, things sometimes got a little TOO intense and the animosity from years of insults and deep seated resentment tended to rear their ugly heads.  
  
"Fine Harry," Remus said brightly, pasting a smile on his face for the moment. He could break down later but for now he had to put on a brave face. After all, the meeting was going to start soon and he would be required to help formulate a plan to solve not only the Tonks issue, but Willow's pregnancy and the change of battle plans that it entailed for the Order. Speaking of Willow, perhaps she could fashion a locator spell to help find his imperiled love….he furrowed his brow as he scanned the room looking for the familiar face of Harry's wife. He finally spotted her, talking quietly to Hermione and Ginny and looking quite pale. "Is Willow alright?"  
  
"Hmmm?" Harry murmured, taking an alarmed glance towards her before relaxing as he realized what ailment Remus was referring to. "Yeah, she's fine," he exchanged a knowing glance with the former werewolf and Severus. "That time of day."  
  
Remus and Severus both nodded understandingly. Indeed, they had both known about the pregnancy within 24 hours of it being revealed and had also been privy to the unfortunate side effects from it. Severus could even personally say that he'd gotten too close to it, having been victim to a bout all over his robes one evening after dinner when he had stupidly tried to talk to her as she hurried out of the Great Hall.   
  
"Why did she change the time of the meeting then?" Remus inquired softly, watching Willow grow paler, gulping visibly before making a break for the restroom situated conveniently five steps from where she had been standing.   
  
Harry rolled his eyes at his wife's behaviour, knowing that he had been right and they should have scheduled the meeting earlier or even later in the evening before getting up from the table. He loved Willow but sometimes she could be so stubborn, much like himself. "You know Willow; she doesn't care about her own comfort so much when action needs to be taken." He turned an eye to Remus and placed a hand on his shoulder. "And action does need to be taken. Dumbledore told me about Tonks."  
  
"Did he?" Remus exclaimed quietly, surprised that Dumbledore would have told Harry about this new development considering the pressures he was under.  
  
"Um-hm. Don't worry. We'll get her back," Harry said quietly, "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go make sure Willow took the pills Madame Pomfrey gave her otherwise she's probably not going to make it through the meeting tonight without puking on someone again." He gave Severus a knowing glance as he said this.   
  
"Yes, go do that," Severus replied curtly to Harry's unspoken comment, remembering how long the stains had taken to come out of his robes. In the end he had just thrown them out.  
  
"Bye Harry," Remus murmured as he watched the Boy-Who-Lived walk away, chuckling lightly at his own joke and leaving he and Severus alone again.  
  
"Harry's right you know," Severus began again awkwardly. "We WILL get her back."  
  
"Severus, you know that can't happen without jeopardizing your cover."  
  
Snape shrugged, "We'll deal with it if it does. Some things are more important."  
  
Remus looked at him incredulously. Something wasn't right when Severus Snape was being nice to HIM of all people. Was this really the same person who had purposely used the most foul and bad-tasting versions of potions ingredients for his wolfsbane potion every month until Remus had been cured? "Alright, who are you and what have you done with Severus Snape?"  
  
Severus shrugged, smiling slightly. "Let's just say that my opinion on some things has changed."  
  
"Alright, who is she?" Remus said after a pause during which he concluded that whatever these things were, they were probably big and more than likely involved a woman. After all, most of the reasons why a man changed his 'opinion' on anything revolved around the fairer sex. Whoever she was, she must be someone special if Severus Snape, greasy git and Hogwarts very own Scrooge, could perform such an about face in regards to his position within Voldemorts innermost circle.   
  
"And just what do you mean by that?" he replied in his usual fashion, with a sneer on his face. This was the Severus Snape Remus knew.   
  
"The woman that has you so tied up in knots that your 'opinion on some things' has changed so rapidly."  
  
"There's no woman," Severus replied curtly.   
  
"Sure there is," a weak voice interrupted the conversation.  
  
"Willow," Severus jumped on the opportunity to get out of a situation that could potentially and inadvertently put him in a position to reveal his relationship with Emily. Granted he was a very good liar but he attributed it mainly to the fact that he hadn't really felt any strong emotions that would inhibit his ability to lie in years. It was different now. Emily made him feel…everything and while he could shield his mind from Voldemort, he found it difficult to do so around the people he trusted the most. And if the conversation kept going the way it appeared to be going, he would be revealing his secret much sooner than either he or Emily had planned. He only thanked his lucky stars that it was Emily's turn to watch the children while their parents were at the Order meeting at Hogwarts. If she HAD been here, he was certain that Willow at the very least would have been able to see right through his charade of indifference that he would have had to erect towards his lover.  
  
"Boys," she greeted them smiling, sitting down in the seat that Harry had vacated in order to hold back her hair in the bathroom. "What's this I hear about a woman?"  
  
"Severus, it appears," Remus started smugly "Has changed his tune towards some things…he's becoming absolutely human."  
  
"Well who is she then?" Willow said teasingly. Remus was right. It must be a woman for her quasi-father to suddenly grow a heart, at least in the company of people who WEREN'T as close to him as maybe McGonnagall, Dumbledore or she were.   
  
"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Remus replied before turning a concerned look on Willow. "But I can see we're making him uncomfortable and quite frankly, I'm more concerned about you right now Willow…how are you feeling?"   
  
Willow shrugged, wincing as she remembered the sumptuous Christmas dinner she had enjoyed…and then regretted eating in the first place as it made another appearance 2 hours later. "Fine now, not so much earlier. But Harry made sure I took the pills Madame Pomfrey gave me." She looked up at Severus and Remus and ran a hand through her hair that her husband's hands had so recently touched. "And he held back my hair really well." She paused as the two men sitting next to her began to chuckle lightly.   
  
"So you're alright?" Remus continued his inquisition.  
  
Willow nodded affirmatively, "I should be." She smiled as familiar hands came down on her shoulders and the chair next to hers was suddenly filled. "Hey Sweetie."  
  
"Hello dear," Harry smiled, setting a glass of water and a bag of salted crackers down in front of her.   
  
Willow quirked an eyebrow at him. "What's this?"  
  
Harry quirked an eyebrow right back at her. "Insurance. You and I both know that those pills only work sometimes and I don't want you missing this meeting. It's important."  
  
"I'm aware Harry," she said quietly, wondering whether she should be angry at his assumption that she would be spending the evening in the bathroom, even after downing two of the anti-nausea pills she had received from Hogwarts resident healer. Deciding that he was probably right (although she wouldn't be admitting that anytime soon, Harry would get a big head otherwise…) she simply replied, "Thanks."  
  
"You're welcome," Harry nodded, "Now what were we talking about?"  
  
He was interrupted however by Dumbledore calling the meeting to order. Severus sighed in relief as the possibility that the inquiries into his love life would continue abruptly stopped, and turned his attention to Hogwarts Headmaster.  
  
"Thank you all for joining me here tonight," Dumbledore smiled. "Especially considering that it is Christmas and, as I'm sure most of you know, there is much to celebrate." He turned twinkling eyes on Harry and Willow. "Has everyone signed the document I passed around the room earlier?"   
  
At the nods he received at his question, Dumbledore continued, motioning to Harry that it was time for the announcement. With a sigh of resignation, Harry responded to both the nod his mentor had given him and to the squeeze of his hand he felt from his wife. He knew however how much Willow preferred that she break the news to the easily inflamed Order. He squeezed Willow's hands back in encouragement as she prepared to speak. It was over in a matter of seconds.  
  
"I'm pregnant."  
  
The room was silent, those who had already been told choosing to remain quiet despite the obvious conversation that would occur in the next two hours. They knew that with this new development, everything would change. Those in the room that hadn't been aware of the impending arrival were silent out of shock. After all, everyone knew that Willow had only had James a matter of months ago. The plan, as laid out a mere three weeks ago, had been a good one but now, it would have to be changed.   
  
"But there is still more news to consider," Dumbledore filled the uncomfortable silence with the next piece of information that needed to be resolved in the meeting. "According to information that Severus received at the last Death Eaters meeting, Nymphadora Tonks has been kidnapped and is being held at wherever Voldemort is currently hiding."   
  
Mad Eye Moody it seemed was the only one with the guts to speak first after two such shocking announcements. "So it's back to the drawing board then?" he said, clearly shaken with the turn of events that had taken one of his best Aurors from her undercover mission infiltrating a group of known Death Eater supporters into the hands of Voldemort himself.  
  
"Not necessarily," Willow broke in awkwardly. "Look, my magic will be…unstable throughout the pregnancy but there's no reason why I can't teach someone else to harness Voldemorts power." She turned sympathetic eyes to Remus and Mad Eye Moody, both of whom Willow was aware knew Tonks the best and therefore were now hurting the most. "For that matter, I could probably teach someone to cast a locator spell to find Tonks."  
  
"But who?" Sirius asked, "Willow, you're not just going to be out of commission, you're going to be a ticking time bomb. ANY magic AROUND you or cast BY you and weird side effects happen."  
  
Remus shook his head in realization. "He's right Willow, multiples are twice as much of a problem, as Molly could probably tell you from her experience with the twins."  
  
"Multiples?!" Hermione said harshly, suddenly cutting into the dialogue as she realized just how dire the situation was. Indeed, she had been one of the creators of the plan to do away with Voldemort with first the stripping of his powers and then the death of the empty shell of a body that would be left. The fact that Willow could perform no magic in the next few months would be a huge problem if they couldn't find a replacement and while she was happy for Willow and Harry, she couldn't help but wonder at the timing of the whole thing which, in her opinion, couldn't have been worse.  
  
"Twins, Hermione," Willow replied softly, shocked by the tone of voice one of her best friends in the world had just directed her way. She knew that she might get a negative reaction from the group but she hadn't been expecting such an outburst from Hermione, who was usually so level-headed and understanding.  
  
"Way to go Harry," Ron said smugly, much to the chagrin of his wife, who nudged him harshly in the ribs in response to his less than crude comment. "Ouch Hermione!"  
  
"I'm in agreement with Ron here," Fred broke in jovially, "Excellent work Mate."  
  
"Excuse me?!" Willow broke in, angry that the only concern anyone seemed to have at the moment revolved around her husband's apparent virility. "Can we get back to the task at hand now? Let's not forget that a member of our ranks is currently being held hostage…"  
  
"Indeed Willow, thank you for bringing us back on topic," Dumbledore said, stepping in to break up the imminent battle of the sexes that would follow should the current topic be continued, eyes twinkling madly. He hadn't been aware that she and Harry were expecting more than one child. A small chuckle escaped him as he thought of the antics two children of the Potters at one time could create for his Potions Master, let alone the chaos caused by three (if he included James who, at the time of the twins birth, would probably only be a year older). "Now, to carry on, Willow and I have already spoken at length on what will be the best course of action at the moment. Willow, would you care to explain?"  
  
"Thank you Albus," she said as she folded her hands primly on the table to avoid tapping them nervously. What she would say next she hadn't run by with anyone save Harry and with good reason. The person she had in mind would have to sacrifice quite possibly their grip on reality, and ultimately, all the good magic that was in them in order to first strip and then house the dark power of Voldemort. It was true that Willow was the only one currently qualified to do this without sacrificing anything but she was fairly certain that the person she had in mind could do an equally good job of it. "In order for our plan to continue the way it has, a replacement will have to be found. One that is qualified to not only cast a locator spell wandlessly and then conjure a way out of wherever Tonks is for Tonks and themselves, but also powerful enough to contain the magic that Voldemort has inside him."  
  
"But Harry's going to be too busy killing the You-Know-Who to do that…" Hermione, who was still unconvinced as to how this was going to work, said.  
  
Harry shook his head negatively, correcting Hermione's false assumption. He couldn't blame her though, if he had been in her shoes, he would have thought of himself first too. "No Hermione, not me." He exchanged a look with his wife before continuing as she allowed him to tell the group sitting at the table with them who the replacement would be. "Emily."  
  
"What?!" Bill started, concern for his daughter causing him to speak. "Emily's not powerful enough to do any thing about that."  
  
"I'm afraid, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore started, "That you're wrong in that assumption. Emily is extremely powerful in her own right. I harbor no doubt that she could perform this task admirably."  
  
"But what about after?" Bill continued. "After she's taken in this dark magic of Voldemorts, what then? Do we just let her lose her sanity?"  
  
"Hey!" Willow cut in hotly. She too had battled 'dark magic' and hadn't lost her sanity thank you very much. She paused. Well, she kind of hadn't. And even if she had, she'd gotten it back. Besides all that, Emily was different in the fact that she had been taught the craft instead of falling into it feet first, unaware of where she was going. This was a luxury that had been denied Willow, but she had strong hopes that in Emily's case, these details wouldn't be a problem. "I'll have you know that I too have 'taken in dark magic' and lived, with my sanity you'll be pleased to note, for the past few years without incidence and you don't see the hell goddess I helped defeat rising do you?"  
  
"Willow, this is my daughter we're talking about. For Merlin's sake, she's just a little girl," Bill said awkwardly, knowing deep down inside that Willow was right. This made him both proud and despondent as he realized the implications of such a role in the war to come.   
  
"She's a grown woman Bill," Willow said sadly, "Look, I'm not saying we'll ultimately use her for this. We're going to ask her, but we won't make her accept the responsibility." She paused. "She CAN however help me with the locator spell. We covered that in class last year and hopefully she hasn't forgotten."  
  
Bill nodded, accepting this much but still feeling quite certain that he didn't want his daughter having any part in this crazy plan the Order had concocted. He knew though that if she didn't, none of them might survive and this only made it harder to balance his own feelings on the matter. She was his only child, the only link he had left to the woman he had met in Egypt 19 years ago.

If he was being honest with himself, he would probably say that he had left her out of necessity. He had been too young to realize how deeply he felt for Catherine, and too stupid to stick around when the feelings became too much. In this way, Bill figured he owed his dead lover and mother of his child more than casual indifference as to the welfare of his own flesh and blood. In her memory and for his own sanity he would protect Emily with his life. There came a time though when a parent had to let their child make their own decisions and respect them accordingly. If she wanted to do this he wouldn't stop her.   
  
No, for now Bill would sit back and listen as the others sitting at the table continued to speak of the possible scenarios and solutions to the current problem, devoting a section of his brain entirely to the next few months when Emily might be providing a priceless service for the rest of the wizarding world, not to mention in the fight to return Tonks to them. The wizarding world had better be thankful.


	11. Secrets

**Hidden Truths Chapter 12- Secrets **

"How were your classes today?" Willow asked as she looked up from the papers she was marking at the large table in the Hogwarts staff room.

Emily, tired after her long day, flopped down onto the couch and closed her eyes. "Rough."

Willow hid a smirk and looked up from her marking. Since the day she and the rest of the Order had brought up the subject of Emily's participation in the final battle, the relationship that she and Emily shared had strengthened to the point of informality outside the classroom setting. This however, meant that a lot more complaining and the general airing of each others problems had become the norm in the Hogwarts staff room after classes. "What happened?"

"Someone needs to talk to Severus. I swear his house gets more and more difficult to deal with every year." Emily frowned, knowing that she couldn't bring herself to bring up that conversation. After all, it would look strange if the Head of Slytherin House suddenly started to listen to an inconsequential teacher in training, let alone a Gryffindor. "You know Blythe Jacobs? The blonde boy in my sixth year class who likes to make me look like an idiot?"

At Willow's nod, Emily continued, standing up and walking over to the table her supervisor sat at. It was strange. Willow was really more than her supervisor now. Indeed, after Christmas and the strange pitch for help Emily had received from the Order, she had truly become a part of the Potter family. Not only did she baby-sit for the couple on a regular basis, but Emily could now say that she knew what having a sister would have been like.

It was January now, a full month since Emily had accepted the Order's request for help and she was beginning to feel rather stressed. Not only had she been hearing the negative thoughts about what she had decided to do from both her father and her grandparents- her grandmother in particular who, even though Emily was not one of her 4 year old cousins, continually treated her as such- but from Severus. They had had their first fight just that morning over a particularly dark training session that Willow was currently supervising for Emily while Harry- not affected by magical interference from the babies- taught Emily to prepare her for the battle ahead. This, Willow was sad to say, had not gone as well as she had hoped. Indeed, the locator spell that would have created the key to finding Tonks had not been successful; Voldemort apparently had shielded the location with powerful spells of his own that Emily, in her limited capacity as a Wicca, or even Harry in his broader capacity, was unable to breach. Nonetheless, the Order still held out hope that she would be brought back alive and well.

In the meantime, Emily, Willow and Harry were trying to go on with the plan as scheduled, with Emily learning from Harry with Willow supervising while still keeping the classes at Hogwarts that both women taught running smoothly. This, Emily was sad to say, was not going as well as she might have hoped. Indeed, lately the Slytherins had been acting as if they knew something was going to happen. Not all of them though. Only the students that Severus had told the Order were children of prominent Death Eaters. In the case of Blythe Jacobs, his father had in fact taken a place within Voldemorts inner circle and was acting as such, much the same way that Draco had behaved for the first six years he had been at Hogwarts.

Emily shook herself out of her inner thoughts and back to the explanation to Willow, who was waiting patiently for her to continue. "Well, we were all sitting in class doing a simple illumination spell when suddenly out of nowhere I hear a scream. Turns out that he purposely summoned a fear demon into the classroom, something he knows we're not covering for the next month or so and that he set loose so that I could spend the next hour in a room with 25 frantic sixth years all scared to death as I finished the spell and sent it back to its own dimension." Emily paused, noticing that Willow's eyes had trailed off to a spot just behind her head and that she was smirking slightly. "What?"

Willow shook her head. "Nothing, just imagining how Severus is going to react to the chaos one of his students caused."

Emily shook her head, blushing slightly as she thought of her lover, who she had in fact gotten back just that afternoon on her way back from her final class for his overprotective tendencies in their argument that morning. With a sniff of her nose, she reached for the coffee that she had conjured when she had sat down at the table with Willow.

Willow paused, taking in this reaction. Something was going on with that. Indeed, she and Harry had had a chat just last night about how they could try to set up something between the two of them. Willow wasn't sure if Severus' mystery woman was still part of the picture, but she was willing to take the chance in 'suggesting' that Emily and Severus step up the level of their relationship. For now, she would stick to subtle nudges until they both somehow got the hint. "How is Severus by the way?"

Emily froze, choking on the mouthful of coffee that sat on her tongue waiting to be swallowed. "How would I know? I don't see him that often, only at meals."

Willow shot Emily a knowing look and smiled innocently and a little sadly. She had been a bad friend lately, choosing to plot with Dumbledore or spend time with her husband and son rather than one of her best friends. "No reason. You just happen to see him more often than I do."

There was a pause, both women starring each other down as Emily decided how to react to what Willow had just said to her. In the end, Emily went with discretion rather than knowing panic. She shrugged innocently and placed a supportive hand on Willow's, purposely playing on the guilt she knew that Willow was feeling about not spending anytime lately with Severus for her own gains. "Well, you have been rather busy lately."

"That's no excuse," Willow shook her head, remembering how she had blown off the most recent chess game/conversation hour with Severus to plot strategy with Dumbledore. "I never see anyone anymore."

Emily, relieved that the conversation was turning to less dangerous areas, i.e. her 'relationship' with the formidable Professor Snape, smiled. "They'll forgive you Willow. After all, what you're doing just might spell the end to Voldemort."

Willow smiled half heartedly. That may be true but in the meantime she was getting used to feeling helpless and moreover, quite useless in the broad scheme of things. No one had been letting her do anything. This probably had something to do with the fact that the last time she had been helping with a spell with the Order, another to locate Tonks, the lamp in the corner had exploded and a rain cloud had simultaneously grown above the region surrounding the spell area. The babies currently growing inside her were making her magic volatile to say the least.

Emily continued, knowing how powerless her supervisor was currently feeling. "Willow, it's not a problem. The Order understands and quite frankly would feel better if you just took it easy at this point."

Willow rolled her eyes, clearly exasperated. "Everyone keeps saying that. I'm only pregnant, not really showing yet even. It's no problem if I want to go out and help with the battle ahead of us, instead of sitting inside and planning." Emily was saved from the half-hearted plea for Willow to take it easy as Severus suddenly swept into the room, his robes billowing behind him and, from the look on his face, clearly furious.

"Which one of you did it?" he said accusingly, his eyes narrowing menacingly in his handsome face. This apparently, was the source of the problem, the fact that at the moment, Severus Snape was not wearing the glamour that he always did, at least when he taught classes. The fact that it was off now was highly unusual.

"Why Severus," Willow ran her eyes appraisingly down her friends body. "How…..young you look today."

Severus scowled, sitting down at the table that his lover and her supervisor sat at and tapping his fingers onto the hard surface in what he hoped was a frightening way. Indeed, with his facial features the way they were right now-void of the regularly haggard and generally menacing expressions that came so naturally to it- he feared that he probably looked more flirtatious than anything else. It wasn't that this was a bad thing. It was just that it became a problem when the glamour that regularly shielded this look from ones face failed in the middle of a class with ones seventh years, coincidentally the part of the student body that probably contained the most overly hormonal and excitable girls in the castle. He hadn't been able to keep the attention of the females in the class for the rest of the period and he had an excellent hunch that it was the fault of one of the women currently sitting innocently at the table with him. "Which one of you did this?" he said through gritted teeth, his eyes narrowing even more as one of his students passed the room and shot him a sly wink and a flirtatious wave of her hand.

Willow couldn't help herself; despite the fact that she had never seen Severus look so thoroughly perturbed, she burst into laughter, Emily soon following her. "When did this happen?"

"During my last class," Severus ground his teeth together, steam practically rolling out of his ears in anger. "One moment I'm teaching a group of well-mannered and deeply afraid seventh years and the next, a group of highly amused boys and drooling girls who coincidentally couldn't concentrate long enough to finish their potions decently as exhibited by the fact that 3 cauldrons had exploded by the end of the lesson."

A new burst of laughter erupted from Willow's mouth. "Oh, I'm sorry Severus; it's just so funny…"

"I didn't think so," Severus scowled, the look only strengthening his attractiveness as he started to resemble what Heathcliff from the book 'Wuthering Heights' must have looked like. "Now which one of you did it?"

Silence reigned a moment as Willow and Emily exchanged looks, seemingly deciding which one was to confess. In reality, they were simply trying to gauge which one of them HAD did it. In the end though, it was Emily who finally broke down and admitted that it was in fact, she who had purposely walked by his classroom and cast the spell to take off the glamour that he seemed to permanently wear.

"I'm so sorry Severus," Emily said, dropping her head to hide the smirk that she hid from him.

From beside her, Willow chuckled lightly. "No you're not Emily. I wouldn't be." She turned an unabashedly unapologetic smile on Severus. "Face it Severus, it's been time for the world to know your secret for years."

"I suppose it is but it wasn't necessary for it to happen in the middle of a class," Severus shot a look at Emily, silently promising retaliation for her actions later that night.

"I'm curious though," Willow continued, having missed the pointed look between the two people that she and Harry were plotting to get together. "Why today Emily? Why'd you do this at all? Why not let Severus come clean on his own?"

Emily froze for a moment, not willing to let her supervisor know that the reason she had chosen today of all days to perform such an underhanded task was because of a lovers spat. "No reason. Just felt like it, I guess."

Willow raised an eyebrow; this answer was highly suspicious. Indeed, her spidey sense was tingling. She would have to talk to Harry about this behaviour…..she watched as Emily looked pointedly away, as if she knew she had been caught in a lie, and listened as the younger woman went on to explain further.

"What? I'm not allowed to be impulsive?" Emily said in an attempt to stop the suspicious look that was filling her employer's eyes.

"It's not that," Willow murmured, her eyes losing some of the suspicious look but still retaining a healthy dose of scepticism. "It's just….I could count on one hand the number of times I've seen you be impulsive since I've met you Emily."

"Well I've been trying some new things lately," Emily shot Severus a look, urging him to help her out of the situation she found herself in at the moment. Severus, in a typically male move, seemed to decide to stay out of it. "A lot of new things actually."

Severus watched as his lover scowled at him before shifting her eyes back to Willow, who thankfully had missed the exchange the lovers had indulged themselves in. If Willow only knew how many new 'things' Emily had been trying lately...Severus' bed for one, her bed and of course various surfaces throughout Severus' dungeon flat…..

Willow shrugged; seeming to give up on the impromptu interrogation she had been subjecting Emily to in favour of more important topics. "So, I've been thinking of the location spell problem…."

"Yeah?" Emily jumped on the chance to change the subject.

"Um-hm," she nodded her head, remembering the spell she had found hidden at the back of an obscure text that Giles had lent her. "I think I've found the solution." She crooked a finger and summoned her bag from the couch, into her lap and dug out the book. This time, it worked, the babies appearing to have taken a break from making her magic completely wonky, at least for the moment. "It's on page 675."

Emily took the old book gingerly from Willow's hands, afraid that the book would crumble by the looks of it. Indeed, it appeared older than most of the books in the library at Hogwarts. "Willow, this looks a trifle dangerous."

"Well it would have to be wouldn't it? The safe spells seem to be useless" Willow retorted humorously, seemingly carefree despite the seriousness of the topic they were currently discussing. Indeed, the spell she was thinking of using had killed three of the previous people who had performed it, burning them alive. The fact that they were all women was not merely coincidence. Willow, ever the research girl, had done her homework only to discover that the reason they had all died was rooted in history. No one in the past, it seemed, had bothered to check and see whether there were any hidden 'extras' or traps written into the spell. In the end, Willow had discovered that the spell, while fatal for women, was not for men, a result it seemed from the years of male domination in the beginning of magical history. She went on, choosing to assume that both Emily and Severus had read the whole page instead of just the first paragraph. "After all, nothing else has worked. Don't worry we'll get Harry to do this one."

"Willow," Severus started awkwardly. "Do you think that's wise? He's the only one who can defeat Voldemort…should we be endangering him this way?"

"Don't worry," Willow waved a hand, unconcerned. Apparently he had only read the first paragraph. "Read a little more. It's only dangerous for women to perform. Men have no problem."

Severus looked down at the page and read another paragraph. Willow was right, the spell, though dangerous, was only a problem for women due to the patriarchal way in which magic had been written back in the beginning. Indeed, in those days, women had been forbidden from performing magic and the spells had been woven through with counter measurements to ensure this.

"I'm thinking of adding a section to my syllabus," Willow mused, taking the book back from Severus. "It's called how the patriarchy screwed over witches everywhere."

"I think I'm offended," Severus mused, raising a handsome eyebrow towards Willow and Emily, who appeared to agree with Willow.

"You should be," Willow joked before turning serious. "It shouldn't be a problem though. Harry will take care of it." With a sigh, she picked up her book and stood up. "I need to go pick up James from Sirius's flat. Harry should be home soon and I'd like to have dinner as a family tonight." She gathered up the papers she had been marking and put them in her bag, before walking towards the door, bag in tow. "I'll see you both later?"

"Um-hm," Emily nodded, "Have a good dinner and give my regards to Harry."

"I will," Willow waved before leaving, closing the door to the staff room firmly behind her, leaving Emily and Severus quite alone.

Emily suddenly remembered the reason Severus had come into the staff room in the first place and she winced. She knew how angry he probably was. With a squeak of nervousness as she cleared her throat, she got up from the table quickly and summoned her books to her with a flick of her hand. "Well, would you look at the time, I should get going too."

"Not so fast," Severus said silkily as he stood up and blocked her way, inadvertently backing her into the table. A book that Willow had left on it earlier fell off of it, startling Emily and causing her to jump slightly as the noise startled her. "I haven't punished you yet for what you did earlier."

"Severus, I really don't think that's necessary," Emily protested weakly, stuttering as she visualized the tongue-lashing she knew she was in for. She was greatly surprised then, when she was subjected to a tongue-lashing of a very different kind, as her lover's mouth fell over her own. His lips, ordinarily a little rough due to the glamour he constantly wore but now soft and subtle stroked her own lightly, teasingly, before cutting to the chase and claiming them harshly, his tongue slipping past said lips and drawing her own tongue into a timeless dance.

"I should thank you really," Severus drawled, moving back and seemingly unaffected by the deep kiss he had just given Emily, one that had apparently sunk her into a stupor as she only starred back at him dazed and confused as he continued to speak. "You saved me from having to ask 'permission' for me to do this from Voldemort."

"Really," Emily mused, her lips tingling still from the mind-blowing kiss they had been subjected to.

"Um-hm," he smirked, pulling her closer and moving a hand erotically around on her back. The hand moved lower until it reached under her skirt to the cleft between her legs. "Thank you."

Emily gasped as Severus' hand reached under her skirt to the cotton of her underwear, stroking softly and making her ache slightly. Indeed, he hadn't even done much to her but she could already feel herself getting wet. "Severus, look where we are….we can't do this."

"Who said we were? I just thought I'd play with you a bit, you naughty girl," His smirk grew wider as his hand bypassed the cotton entirely and settled firmly over her clitoris, continuing to stroke as his mouth came once more down on her own, successfully cutting off the harsh cry that had been about to tear from Emily's throat.

It was to this sight that Willow entered the room again, to collect the book she had forgotten on the table when she had left earlier.


	12. Discoveries

**Chapter 13: Discoveries **

A/N This chapter has a rather racy part that I haven't put in here due to its NC-17 nature. Go to my profile page and press the link to my yahoogroup if you want to read it...

Willow stood in shock, her jaw practically falling off her face and her eyes bugging out a bit by the sight she was being treated to. There, being shoved up against the table by Severus was Emily. This in itself wouldn't have been cause for alarm for Willow. Severus had always had a flair for the dramatic after all, especially towards students (or former students in this case), who didn't appear to know not to pull childish pranks on Severus Snape, feared Potions Master of Hogwarts. No, it was the fact that he currently had his hand up her skirt and his mouth was seemingly devouring Emily's that was the strange part in this proverbial kettle of fish. So much for she and Harry having to fix them up together…

"Willow?' Emily tore her mouth from Severus' and shoved him away quickly. "What are you doing back here?"

"I forgot my book," Willow smirked, losing the battle with the laughter that was bubbling up her chest. With one last failed try, she gave in to the urge to laugh.

"I'm glad you find this so funny," Severus drawled, taking a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiping the moisture that Emily had left on his hand with her arousal mere moments ago. Indeed, he was pretty sure that the shock of Willow finding out their secret had drained her libido to the point of non-existence the same way that he knew his was at the moment.

"You two," Willow guffawed, great gusts of laughter making it hard for her to get the words out, "are pulling an Albus and Minerva. How long has this been going on for?"

"A couple of months," Emily said quietly, looking at her hands and smiling slightly.

"Months!" Willow cried, the laughter still coming as she realized just how well Severus and Emily had pulled the wool over everyone's eyes. "How's the sex then?"

"Willow!" Emily looked mortified, the smile abruptly dropping. She couldn't believe that her employer had just asked that….

Willow shrugged, her laughter dying down. "Good I'd imagine, judging by the fun you two were having only moments ago. I'm sorry I interrupted by the way."

"That's perfectly alright," Severus said curtly. Really, it wasn't, but that was self-explanatory. Severus knew that now it was only a matter of time before they would have to tell Emily's family.

Willow stilled at his tone and smirked again. "Her father doesn't know, does he?" Severus shot her a withering look, thus confirming her guess. "Don't worry, neither Harry, nor I will tell."

"Harry?" Emily, who only seemed capable of one word sentences, said in dismay. Severus shot her a look of his own, clearly agreeing with her.

"Well yes," Willow said, shrugging as if Emily should have known all along. "Clearly. He's my husband and I share everything with him, most of all juicy gossip." She paused, looking at the tense couple in front of her and gasped, raising a mortified hand to her mouth. "Oh gosh, you two probably want to have sex right now, don't you?" She gave them a wink. "Just let me get my book and I'll be gone. Oh and don't worry, I'll lock the door for you with one of the spells that Harry and I use when we want to be alone," she rolled her eyes in remembrance of why she and Harry had had to employ a locking charm in the first place, "Well, since Remus and Sirius started barging into the flat at all hours…"

Severus watched, shell-shocked as Willow hurried around the table and picked up the book that, in his haste to 'punish' Emily, he had made drop, and made for the door. He stopped her there, Emily having sat down in dismay that their secret had been found out. "Willow, wait."

"Yes Severus?" Willow replied quietly, appearing as if she hadn't just walked in on he and Emily in a compromising position.

"I'm in love with her," he said under his breath, almost embarrassed. "I just thought you should know that….that I'm not…toying…with her."

Willow smiled at him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I didn't think you were. Have you told her yet?"

"No," he rubbed a hand over his eyes. He should have told her, he loved her didn't he? But it never seemed to be the right time for such an announcement. Severus also had to admit to himself that he was more than a little afraid. After all, it wasn't everyday that a man put himself on the line so emotionally and told the woman he loved exactly the depth of his feeling for her. Quite frankly, he still didn't think he was ready to take the chance that she would reject him, and tell her the truth.

Willow paused, contemplating the situation and knowing by the look in his eyes that he was afraid of the response he would get from Emily. Willow knew however, just by looking in Emily's eyes, that she returned Severus' feelings. Her inner child giggled. Looks like she and Harry wouldn't have to perform any matchmaking between the two of them after all, Severus and Emily having taken care of it on their own. "Look, how about you come by tonight and we'll talk, just you and me, like old times. Chess and brandy," she caught herself. "Well, brandy for you. Orange juice for me, but still chess. Sound good?"

"Alright," Severus said, looking down at his hands. "And…thank-you."

"No problem," Willow mused, looking at her watch. "I should get going. I told Sirius I'd pick up James fifteen minutes ago. See you tonight and good luck," she said this last part under her breath, knowing that Emily had no clue of how Severus felt for her. Looks like they were both were in for a surprise tonight…

And with that, Willow was gone, taking their secret with her.

"Well," Emily murmured, laughing slightly, the room finally empty save for her and Severus. "Guess the secret's out now."

Severus was silent for a moment. Their secret WAS out. What really was the point of keeping his anymore? "I love you," he murmured quietly, his brief conversation with Willow spurring him to waste no more time in telling Emily exactly how he felt about her.

"What?" Emily furrowed her brow, unsure as to what she had heard emerge from her lover's mouth. She hoped it was what she thought it was, but her heart wouldn't let her mind get the better of it, refusing to jump to any conclusions before it knew for certain that what she thought she heard and what Severus had actually said were one and the same.

"I love you," Severus said a little stronger now. "I just thought you should know that."

Emily stilled, the breath catching in her throat as she sat there, stunned at what her lover had just confessed. "You…you love me?" She asked, her voice suddenly raw with emotion.

"Look," Severus walked over to the table and sat next to her, catching her hands between his. "I understand if you don't feel the same way but maybe with time you could…"

"Severus," Emily shut him up with a finger gently to his mouth, shaking her head slightly. "That's not possible."

Severus felt his heart break in half for a moment before she continued.

"Because I'm already head over heels in love with you," Emily finished, smiling through the tears that had suddenly formed in her eyes. "I have been since about a month into this whole crazy and wonderful relationship of ours."

"Really," Severus drawled, a smile growing on his face quite rapidly in relief. "Well, that's good isn't it? That we feel the same things that is."

"About each other?" Emily smirked, standing up and stalking her lover quietly. "You certainly have a way with words, don't you Severus?" She trailed a hand down her lover's chest and suddenly sat down, her still damp centre making contact with his crotch. "So what are we going to do about this?" Her mouth came down on his own, not making contact, simply whispering as it toyed with nipping his lips with her own.

"Good job old man," Harry smirked as Severus entered the flat later that night. Indeed, Severus had left Emily in his bed just a few minutes ago as they had finished their rendezvous in the staff room with another in his flat.

"Harry!" Willow mock chastised him, "You shouldn't encourage the fact that he seduced an 18 year old girl…"

"Actually, she seduced me," Severus flopped down at the table where Willow and Harry sat with their son, having tea, and returned Harry's smirk.

"Did she really? Good for her," Willow dropped the stern attitude for her own curiosity, which always seemed to get the better of her. Truth be told, she was more than a little curious at how Emily and Severus had gotten together in the first place, and how they had managed to hide the relationship from the Weasley's for so long. Willow almost burst into laughter right there as she imagined the reaction the couple was going to get from Emily's family when they finally broke the news to them.

"I wonder how Bill's going to take that," Harry murmured in an amused voice, seemingly reading Willow's mind as he stood to take James to bed, as he had told Willow he would do once Severus showed up for their chess game. Indeed, when Willow had come up to the flat, looking as if the world had just thrown itself upside down, Harry had been more than a little concerned. After all, it took a lot for Willow to become really upset or shocked nowadays. She had seen a lot in her life after all and nothing seemed to faze her. But this had and once the shock had worn off, Harry had been treated to the silly side of his wife as she had regaled him with the strange tale of what she had walked in on and what this meant for the future of the Weasley family.

Indeed, he was willing to sell tickets for when the couple decided to tell her family, and Harry was willing to bet that if he were to record Ron's reaction alone and sell it to the public, he and Willow could easily never have to work again for all the money they'd make off of it.

Severus Snape winced, again thinking of the reaction he was going to get from her family. The truth of the matter was that at this point, he loved Emily too much to let her go, family reaction be damned.

"They're going to be fine with it," Willow said quietly, sensing what her friend was saying before he said it, and watching as Harry took their son into their bedroom to be put to bed.

"I know," Severus murmured, accepting the cup of tea Willow handed him. He looked up from the cup and smiled wryly. "Is it wrong to be a little scared though? I love her but is that enough?"

Willow shrugged, "I don't know. Did you tell Emily how you felt?"

He nodded, smiling slightly. "I did."

"And did she have something to say about that?" Willow prompted.

Severus' smile broadened. "She returns my feelings strangely enough."

"Well good then," Willow leaned back in her chair with her tea. "Just keep in mind that her family just wants her to be happy and I think she's happy with you so they should be fine with it. Eventually that is."

He grimaced, "After they try to kill me."

Willow returned the grimace, "After they try to kill you." She looked up, taking in the time. Eight o'clock, the perfect time for a game of chess. "Come on then Sevvie, it's time for chess and, if I don't miss my guess, you could do with a brandy to go with that tea."

Severus nodded, standing up. Things were going to be alright. Emily returned his feelings, her family would hopefully accept him, and at the moment, he was preparing to share a game of chess with one of his best friends. All in all, he felt that things were going to be alright for him. As for the rest, the situation with Tonks and the like, they would deal with that in the morning, Harry performing the spell that would locate the Auror who had been missing for months. For now though, he would play chess with Willow and try not to think of any of this. After all, that was what tomorrows were for.


	13. Under Merlin's Spell

**Chapter 14: Under Merlin's Spell**

"Remind me why I'm doing thing again?" Harry Potter murmured as he and Willow set up the circle for the spell that would-hopefully- locate Tonks.

"Because you love me and if you don't I'd have to do it and then I'd die in a burny fiery death," Willow said matter-of-factly.

"Right," Harry said, waving the bundle of burning herbs to cleanse their living room as Willow had requested. He stopped suddenly as a thought occurred to him. If that was what could happen to Willow, what was going to happen to him when he performed the spell? Indeed, he hadn't thought much of the fact that his wife had requested his presence in this spell and after all, it wasn't that he hadn't assisted her in the past; it was just that in the past he had been thoroughly briefed on exactly what was going to occur. Willow had been strangely silent in this case and this was distinct cause for concern. "Wait, what happens when I do the spell then?" He asked finally, his curiosity getting that better of him.

Willow cringed, not wanting to tell him. The very ancient spell that they were using had only driven one wizard insane; it wasn't as if it was completely dangerous. She turned away from her husband, purposely avoiding the question and beginning to mix the chopped dragon's scale into the potion.

"Willow…" Harry said warningly, walking over to her and standing on the other side of the cauldron so she had no choice but to look at him.

Willow sighed, "Alright, so there's the slight chance you'll go insane…" she said, looking up to catch his eyes before looking back down to put the dragon scales in, annoyed that Harry was making her tell him this. After all, the wizard that had gone insane had only done so because he hadn't been as strong as was necessary for this spell. Harry was extremely strong so this reaction was probably an unlikelihood. Her husband however was generally drawn to unlikely symptoms in his protectiveness for both his wife and children, and therefore Willow hadn't chosen to expose him to any of her research concerning the spell. Perhaps this had been a mistake though…

"What!" Harry exclaimed, looking distinctly put off that Willow hadn't mentioned this earlier. Of course Harry knew that this had been a likely situation concerning his wife, he just hadn't thought that she would keep something this big from him.

"It's only happened once," Willow continued, not looking up, afraid of the look of shock that she knew was currently residing in Harry's eyes. "And it happened because the wizard wasn't strong enough to handle the spirit of the other wizard that had to enter their body."

Harry was silent at this, choosing his next words carefully while trying to reign in his burgeoning frustration that Willow had yet again decided what information he was or was not ready to hear. Dumbledore had done this to him and since the night that Sirius had been thrown into the Veil and Harry and the Headmaster had had their 'talk' regarding the prophecy, Harry had lost all respect for the man. Understandably, he didn't want the same thing to happen with his wife. "Alright, I think you need to explain a little bit more about this spell I'm performing," he said after awhile, "I thought I was just going to drink that," he pointed to the iridescent blue mixture that Willow was now stirring dragons scales into. He grimaced as he watched it turn abruptly into a deep red, making it look like blood. He shook his head, continuing, "And then Tonks location was just going to appear after I said the words to the spell."

Willow shook her head, deciding that if she was going to come clean with exactly what her husband was going to be doing that afternoon. "Well…you're almost right, you're just going to drink this potion, and then say the words to the spell."

"And?" Harry demanded impatiently after a moment when his wife didn't appear to finish her explanation, stony-faced the whole time.

"AndthespiritofMerlinisgoingtocomeintoyourbodyandlocateTonks…" Willow said quickly, wincing as she did because she knew how Harry was going to react.

Harry didn't disappoint. "What!" he exploded, "Willow what do you mean that the spirit of Merlin is going to come into my body and locate Tonks!"

"Well, just that really," Willow sighed, turning her attention back to the cauldron she was stirring.

"How?" Harry said quietly.

Willow looked up, "From what I've read of accounts of it, you summon the spirit and he comes into your body, sort of like a possession, but he leaves when the potion wears off willingly, and during the time he's with you he'll help you locate Tonks."

Harry found himself weighing his words again, "Willow you do realize that Voldemort has a very bad habit of trying to break into my mind. I really don't see that it's a good idea to have me being possessed by a spirit, even one of Merlin's calibre."

"Yes, but Sweetie, it's the spirit of Merlin, you'll be safe; he invented Occlumency," Willow said matter-of-factly, "And remember, would I lead you into something dangerous willingly?"

Harry gave his wife a look, thinking back to the time that Buffy and Xander had been in England and they had all gone out patrolling together one night. They had been ambushed by vampires and, despite many spells and the Slayer herself, they had all barely escaped.

Willow cringed, remembering that time too. "OK, but this time is different; you're strong, you can deal with the invasion of your mind without going insane…"

Harry nodded his head in disbelief, smiling despite this fact, "Gee, thanks Willow, that's very comforting."

"Harry," Willow said after a moment's silence, during which time she didn't look at him. Now she did, her eyes pleading. "If you don't do this, I don't know what we're going to do. This is seriously our last resort."

"I wasn't saying that I wasn't going to do it," Harry said after another awkward silence, now feeling guilty that he had protested at all. He hated how Willow could do that to him. "It's just that…"

"I didn't share all the information with you and I'm sorry," Willow finished for him, a little more than ashamed that she hadn't told him sooner. "If it makes you feel better, Buffy and Xander used to complain about the same things."

"Look, Willow, it's no big deal," he said in what he hoped was a comforting voice.

Willow cracked a smile, marvelling at how American her husband was sounding before clearing her throat, signalling their return to the business of the spell. "None the less, I shouldn't have done it and I apologize," she looked up to meet Harry's eyes. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to. Severus already volunteered if you wouldn't do it." She looked down again, sheepish, "You ARE the only one who can defeat Voldemort and I understand if you…"

"What? And miss channelling Merlin's spirit? Not on your life Willow," Harry interrupted her, pulling a stool up to the workbench they had set up earlier and sitting down, leaning forward as he did so to take his wife's hand. "Besides, this is for Remus right? It's my obligation to do this; he's family. He, Sirius and the Weasley's were there for me when no one else was. I owe it to them to return the favour. "

Willow smiled, looking up again and letting a sentimental tear make the journey down her cheek. She had forgotten all about the special relationship that Remus and Harry had, especially in light of the fact that Sirius had been missing-in-action for some of the most crucial years in Harry's development as an adult.

"Hey," Harry said softly as he reached up to brush the tear away, catching the next as it began its descent. "What's this all about?"

Willow shrugged, wiping her own eyes with the back of her hand and reaching for the tissue that she now carried constantly with her for these bouts of emotion. "Hormones, that's all. What you said about you and Remus was just…so beautiful and you know how I get these days."

Harry nodded, smiling slightly. "Yeah, I know."

They were interrupted from the moment they were currently sharing though by Draco's arrival into the room.

"Hello Luv," he said, sweeping down on Willow and giving her a kiss. He pulled back, noticing her tears and turning an accusing look on Harry. "Making your wife cry now are you Potter?"

"Hormones Draco," Willow said softly. "It's just hormones. What are you doing here anyway?"

"Thought you could use some help with the spell; Merlin knows Potter won't be of any use to you," he leaned forward conspiratorially. "He just barely managed an 'Acceptable' on his NEWTS and I for one received a perfect grade on that examination."

Harry rolled his eyes. He was used to this sort of behaviour from Draco. It was the accepted mode of communication between he and his once arch-rival. It didn't mean that he had to like it when he was insulted though. The truth of the matter was that Draco was right; potions were not Harry's forte. This did not mean however that they needed whatever help Draco was apparently willing to give.

Noticing Harry's reaction but not caring in the least, Draco moved toward the potion, "Now how can I help?"

Harry winced as he drained the final dregs from the mug of potion that his wife had just given him. Indeed, it was a most foul concoction, or so it tasted. "Alright, now what?" he said, his body starting to tingle slightly.

"Now you say the words of the spell," Willow murmured, stooping down from her position at the workbench they had prepared the potion on to hand Harry a small sheet of paper.

"And try not to screw it up Potter," Draco, who had helped Willow finish the potion and was now sitting back on the Potter's couch, teased.

Harry shot a glare to Draco, turning his attention to the words of the spell written on the piece of paper in his hands. His head shot up in alarm to catch Willow's as the words of the spell suddenly started to dissolve before his eyes and his head started to throb. With a sigh, he felt something start to take control of his body.

"Harry, what's wrong?" Willow asked, leaning down again to place a hand on her husband's back.

Harry's body shuddered under Willow's hand, energy unfamiliar to her making the journey to her hand, and making it shake uncomfortably. She pulled back, standing quickly and standing away.

"Willow," Draco started, "What's happening?"

Willow shook her head, "I don't know Draco, and it's not supposed to happen this way."

"Well yes actually, it is," Harry's voice, although tinged with a thick accent unlike his own, drawled. With a groan as he stretched his body, Harry stood and looked around at his surroundings. "Lovely place you've got here."

"Thank you," Willow backed away slightly again. "Am I to assume that you're not Harry?"

Harry chuckled, stepping forward and holding a hand out to the scared woman in front of him, now sporting a bodyguard as Draco had decided when Harry had stood that perhaps he should get closer to Willow should anything decide to happen unexpectedly, "Merlin, at your service. I assume you have a spell you'd like me to perform?"

Willow furrowed her brow in confusion, "But…wasn't Harry supposed to say the words to the spell or something like that?"

"Something like that indeed, my dear," Merlin (Willow found it too confusing to refer to this unfamiliar person wearing her husband's body as Harry) said, walking over and settling himself on the couch that Draco had just vacated. "My spirit can be invoked in many forms and does not have to include the spoken word, especially by people as strong as your husband. The intent alone was enough in his case. Now," Merlin unrepentantly summoned Willow to him, forcing her down onto his lap. "How can I help such a lovely lady?"

Draco broke into laughter from across the room, "Ducks, I think the centuries old wizard is hitting on you."

"You think?" Willow hissed back, trying to get out of Merlin's lap.

It was Merlin's turn to break into laughter, letting the struggling witch go from his hold and setting her down next to him, "Just a joke. You remind me very much of my lover, Anna, and I simply wanted to test the theory."

"Yes, well," Willow spat out quietly, fixing her clothes, "Do that later. We have a spell to perform and while I am quite happy that you've decided to join us today, I would like to get this spell underway as soon as possible."

"Of course," he replied elegantly, standing. "A location spell then?"

"How did you…" Willow was dumbfounded. She hadn't told him exactly why she wanted him here after all.

"Know what you wanted?" Merlin finished the sentence for her. "I invented Occlumency and Legilimency Willow, reading minds is my forte."

"Of course," Willow mumbled under her breath, feeling a headache coming on. "Why didn't I think of that?" Suddenly she felt hands on her temple and the pain went away as quickly as it had appeared. She looked up to see the gently smiling face of her husband.

"It's a lot to take in, I know," Merlin said quietly, "Shall we continue then?"

"Yes," Willow exchanged apprehensive looks with Draco, who had watched the last interaction between Willow and Merlin with curiosity. From what he had read about the story of Merlin and Anna, Willow fit the older wizard's description completely. Indeed, Anna had been a High Priestess of Avalon, and grandmother to Arthur Pendragon. She had also been one of the most powerful witches in history. The fact that Merlin, history's most powerful wizard, had referred to Willow as Anna spoke well of her character.

"Alright then," Merlin sighed, waving his hands slightly to summon dragon's blood, lemongrass, oregano and a bit of salt.

"Are you making a salad or a spell?" Draco joked from his place next to Willow on the couch, where he had sat himself mere moments ago.

Merlin simply smiled, "You make it a habit of eating dragon's blood with your salad then Mr. Malfoy? Appropriate, that."

Draco simply rolled his eyes, deciding to keep his mouth shut with his next biting comment. After all, this WAS Merlin he was thinking of trading insults with. Ginny wouldn't be pleased if he came home from helping Willow, with injuries…

Merlin methodically ground and sprinkled the lemongrass and oregano onto a silver plate he had summoned from Willow's store of magical ingredients, setting it in the middle of the floor and sitting down in front of it.

"Your husband is quite young and agile, isn't he Willow?"

Willow cast a suspicious glare at the wizard currently sitting on her best rug, "Yes, why do you ask?"

Merlin shrugged, dripping the dragon's blood onto the dry pile he had created and watching as a small wisp of smoke started to appear, "Haven't felt this good since I was a young man myself. Do you have children?"

"Yes," Willow said standing as Merlin motioned for she and Draco to join him on the floor. "We have a son, James. He's still a baby. And we have two more on the way.'

"Yes, I can see that. Congratulations," he said in a distracted manner as he sprinkled the salt, finally, on the now heavily smoking pile. Suddenly, a bright light broke through the smoke, creating what appeared to be a three dimensional map of Great Britain. With a wave of his hand, the map narrowed, focussing on a spot outside of London before narrowing again to a picture of a ramshackle old house in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere. "Nymphadora Tonks is there," Merlin said, standing and motioning for Willow and Draco to stand. "We have to hurry," he shot a worried look at Willow. "There's not much time."

"For what?" Draco asked, tired of the cryptic exchange they were currently participating in with the older wizard.

Merlin pursed his lips, meeting Draco's eyes with his own, "To save her life Draco, and that of her unborn child."


	14. Reunions and Unexpected Surprises

**Chapter 15- Reunions and Unexpected Surprises**

Willow shook her head, unsure if she had heard right, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. Child?"

Merlin nodded his head affirmatively, "A boy if I'm correct, and I usually am."

Draco shot her a confused look, "He can see that?"

"Apparently," Willow said in a deadpan voice, moving to get her coat. "But I don't understand, if she's pregnant, then who's the father? Tonks wasn't involved in any relationsh…." Willow knew the answer even before the question was out of her mouth, remembering, "Oh my God, Remus."

"Remus?" Draco stopped dead in his tracks, forcing Willow to walk the three steps back to Draco and pull him along, all the while following Merlin who now had the door to the flat open.

"Yes Remus," Willow said, with a flick of her hand closing the door they had all just walked through. "They've been together off and on for the last few years. They had just gotten back together before she disappeared."

"Should we floo him then?" Draco asked as he followed Willow and Merlin down the hallway.

Willow shook her head, "No. We need only cool heads for this. Remus has too much invested, too much at stake. It's his child after all."

Merlin cut into the conversation at this point with his own insight on the matter, "And I really don't think we're going to need to worry in this case about more people joining us on this excursion. They've left her for dead."

"What!" Willow's eyes grew wide in shock. She shouldn't have been surprised, she knew that. This was usual Deatheater behaviour when it came to low profile hostages and Tonks, a known Auror, was certainly not low profile. It was just pure dumb luck that the Deatheaters in charge of the task of ridding the Order and themselves of Tonks and her unborn child had failed, and they had simply made the assumption that she was dead.

Merlin nodded affirmatively, turning the corner into the entry way of Hogwarts, "I'm not sure why they left, couldn't get a read on that but she's alone and that's what's important at the moment if we want to do this quickly and quietly."

"We?" Draco raised his eyebrow, "You're joining us on this expedition?"

"Well what did you think I was going to do? Miss out on this opportunity to actually go out and live a little after years of the afterlife?" Merlin returned Draco's condescending look and raised it with a sneer on his face that made Harry look uncomfortably like the Severus Snape he had known during his schooldays.

"Well," Draco started awkwardly, having indeed thought that that was exactly what was going to happen. Apparently not.

Merlin rolled his eyes, "That's the trouble with you youngsters, thinking you know everything and that with a flick of your wand everything is just going to appear before you. Take your summoning of me for example. You thought you were just going to get the location from me and I was going to go back where I came from, didn't you?" He looked directly at Willow who, because this was exactly what she thought was going to happen, couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye. Merlin looked exasperated, flicking his wrists to open the giant door to Hogwarts, normally locked at night and that he shouldn't have been able to open.

Willow, recognizing the fact that one auror and a witch that couldn't use her magic properly because of the babies inside of her stood no chance of extricating a captive from a Deatheater house, sighed, "Alright, but we're getting in and we're getting out. I don't want you doing any harm to my husband's body."

"Don't worry. I wouldn't dream of damaging it. I couldn't in good conscious spoil the, ah-hm, _relationship _you and your husband have," Merlin drawled, perusing the form that Willow made as she walked a little bit in front of him on the way to the apparition point outside of the Hogwarts grounds. He smiled, appreciating the fuller bottom, the more pronounced curves and the extra weight that she was now carrying in certain strategic places due to her pregnancy, like her breasts. His smile broadened as he searched Harry's memories. He could almost feel those breasts in his hands…

Willow groaned in frustration. She had been afraid of this. After all, she hadn't been known as the 'Research Girl' in Sunnydale for nothing and this situation was no exception. She had dutifully done her research on Merlin before performing the spell and discovered the lascivious nature of the wizard in front of her. In his day he had been quite the womanizer and it appeared that he hadn't changed one bit. She turned to face Merlin, walking backwards on the path ahead of Draco, and the wizard currently wearing her husband's body, "Going through his memories now aren't you?"

"Yes, actually I am," Merlin smirked. Fine memories they were too…"But back to the subject at hand…"

"Give it up Mate," Draco broke in, knowing how close-lipped Willow could be about her private life. Draco had tried enough times to extricate embarrassing information on Potter to know this. "She doesn't talk about sex or anything that could possibly reveal anything remotely interesting about she and Potters relationship. As far as the rest of us know, everything is wonderful and chaste in her life."

"That is SO not true!" Willow retorted hotly, falling for the bait that had been left for her. She turned away from the pair of men behind her, thinking to herself that Draco, despite his dislike of Harry, seemed to have a lot in common with the wizard that was currently passing time in Harry's body and moreover, Harry himself. Maybe that was why Ginny, legend among her class at Hogwarts for having dated every boy in her year and above in one year- a dare from Hermione who had been trying to make Ron notice her and, failing this, had attempted to gain his attention through his sister- had eventually married Draco. The dare had worked but it also had created a relationship with Draco that had eventually led to their marriage years later and, as Hermione had mused at the wedding, forced all of them to take notice of the similarities that Harry and Draco shared. Ginny, it appeared, had been looking for Harry Potter all her life-only blonde, and more than often slightly evil...

"Really?" Merlin drawled, drawing closer to Willow's surprise, and pulling her closer to his body with a free arm. "Do tell my dear. Completely change my opinion of this overly chaste relationship I see in your husband's brain."

Willow shot Draco a look, her eyes asking for help from the intrusive line of questioning she was being subjected to. Draco simply smirked and continued to walk. Evil indeed but apparently only when it suited him. This was one of those circumstances.

"Look, this conversation is besides the point of anything we would or should be talking about. The last time I checked we had a witch to save and our talking about my kinky sex life has nothing to do with that," she said, finally, as her frustration mounted exponentially.

"Kinky you say?" Draco's smirk turned into a snicker. "Why Willow, I never knew you had it in you…"

Willow had had enough. Reaching the gate to Hogwarts, she turned to the two men and raised a warning finger. "That is enough from both of you. Now we're going to do this rescue mission, get Tonks back to the castle and I don't want to hear a word about Harry or me, or sex. You got it?"

"Sure Willow," Draco drawled as he strode up to her and slung an arm over her neck. "But you know I now have enough information to tease you for the next decade, don't you?"

Willow simply glared at him and pointedly ignored the smirk that was still sitting on Merlin's face. If he had complete access to Harry's thoughts and feelings than he would know not to elaborate the conversation any further.

"If you're both done bickering," Merlin, who had actually quickly scanned Harry's thoughts and was now aware of the repercussions if he continued with this particular line of questioning, said quietly with a roll of his eyes. "We should get going."

"Let's," Willow smiled warningly at Draco before going to the apparition barrier that the gate of Hogwarts represented and crossing.

And with that, the trio joined hands as Merlin apparated them to the spot where Tonks was located.

Days later Willow would recollect the rescue mission as one which was completely uneventful. Well, unless the aftermath of the rescue mission was counted. Needless to say, the shock of Tonks' appearance in the hospital wing had created more conflict that it had resolved. Willow looked up from her magazine to gaze upon the face of her exhausted husband, currently passed out in the bed in front of her. Apparently possession took a lot out of a person. She closed her eyes and sighed. If only that was all of Harry's problems right now…

They had arrived at Tonks' place of abandonment to find her unconscious and barely breathing in a corner of the ramshackled old cottage that (judging from the lived in appearance of the humble abode) had been the Auror's prison for the past seven months since her capture by the Deatheaters and immediately transported to the hospital wing at Hogwarts using the portkey that Merlin had fashioned for them. This was what had immediately led to the conflict. Indeed, Remus had been summoned by Madame Pomfrey upon hearing that Tonks was on her way back to the castle and had been waiting for them when they had arrived.

The look of shock on his face at the swollen stomach of his lover, turning rapidly into relief that both she and their child were doing well was not something that Willow would forget anytime soon. Especially after Madame Pomfrey had announced that the only reason why Tonks hadn't miscarried was because the baby was stopping itself from miscarrying. Furthermore, it had turned out (as Dumbledore had told them upon arrival at the hospital wing) that the child was the subject to a prophecy (that they hadn't-of course-had time to discuss with him before he had left the hospital wing).

And that had been when Harry had chosen to rid himself of Merlin and stop breathing.

And so Willow sat at her husbands side, mentally preparing herself for the verbal beating in the direction of her husband that she had been formulating since Madam Pomfrey had gotten Harry's heart to start pumping blood again.

"How's he doing?"

Willow whipped her head around to look at the man standing at the door to the hospital wing. She sighed and put her magazine down. "Sirius, what are you doing here?"

Sirius simply shrugged and entered the room, sitting down in the chair next to the bed. "Thought I'd check on my godson. How's he doing?"

Willow rolled her eyes, "He's breathing."

Sirius chuckled softly, sensing the exasperation in Willow's voice. "Going to kill him aren't you?"

"For making me worry? If I did that every time he did something like this I would have been thrown in Azkaban months ago," she paused, taking stock of her current situation. "But I'm the one who talked him into this one so I can't be too angry. After all, he did save Tonk's life."

Sirius pulled his chair closer to the edge of the bed, simply looking at his godson's wife as she continued.

"How's James? Did he go to bed alright for you?"

He nodded. Willow, upon her return to the castle had taken James to the infirmary with her to be close to Harry but James had soon tired of all the waiting around for word on his father's health and Sirius had volunteered to take him to the Potter's quarters to put him to bed. "Dobby's with him right now."

Willow nodded in acknowledgement, standing to pace the room in frustration. Her son was sleeping peacefully in his crib and the babies inside her were fine according to Madame Pomfrey but the only piece of the domestically blissful puzzle that she lived in was her husband. Tonight had been a wake-up call. She shouldn't have pushed him to do this for her, no matter what the outcome that such a rescue mission could bring, and had. She was deeply concerned for Harry's health; he had started breathing again but the fact of the matter was that he hadn't woken up and this was cause for concern.

"Willow?" Sirius broke through her thoughtful demeanour. "Has Madame Pomfrey told you anything about Harry's condition?"

Willow nodded. "There's no reason that he should be unconscious right now. Physically he's fine and Merlin…he's gone from his body, or at least that's the impression I got from Madame Pomfrey. I just…I don't know Sirius, I get the feeling that we're all missing something, something crucial that would explain why he's not waking up."

"Like what?" he asked, pulling his chair closer to Willow's and leaning forward so that his elbows rested on that bed.

"I don't know Sirius," she leaned forward, absentmindedly taking Harry's still hand into her own and stroking it softly. "Maybe it's an anomaly of the spell. I mean I read it in its entirety but maybe I translated it wrong because this was not the reaction that I was expecting..."

Sirius shook his head, "No, I'm sure you read it right," he sighed. "We just have to wait."

"Easier said than done," she sighed; her brow furrowing as she felt the fingers of her husband move slightly, finally. Perhaps she had been wrong in her assumptions that something was weird about the unnatural slumber that had followed Harry's collapse. "Harry? Harry sweetie, are you awake?"

"Just 5 more minutes Willow," he murmured, squeezing his wife's hand in his obviously still asleep state. "Is James up yet?"

Willow exchanged relieved glances with Sirius, who had gotten up to go get Madame Pomfrey, before turning back to her husband, whose eyes had begun to open heavily. "Harry, you're in the hospital wing."

"I am?" His eyes shot open and he sat up, looking around to verify the words that his wife had just told him. "What happened?"

Her eyes widened. "You don't remember any of it? Not Merlin, not…saving Tonks?"

Harry shook his head negatively. "No, should I? Was that part of the spell too?"

"I don't know. There aren't exactly many documented cases of this. Maybe." Willow sighed, more than slightly frustrated at Harry's lack of memory. Indeed, she had been counting on his remembrance of the events and, more specifically, his own knowledge into the mind of Merlin.

"Well I'm alright, aren't I? Everyone was okay?"

Willow nodded in assurance, "Yeah, Everyone's okay. You included."

"So what happened then? I didn't do anything too…different did I?" Harry sat forward and took Willow's hand.

"Define different," Willow deadpanned, her eyebrow raising ironically. At Harry's worried look at this response, she rolled her eyes, "You were Merlin for God's Sake Harry, you weren't yourself and yes, you were different. That tends to happen when you're possessed by an all powerful wizard."

She paused, smirking as she remembered how he had come on to her.

Harry's eyes widened in panic at the look that had settled over his wife's face. "What Willow? What'd I do?"

"Well you might have come onto me rather blatantly and then…"

"AND THEN?" Harry exclaimed impatiently. Just what had Merlin been doing with his wife?

"And then proceeded to save Tonks rather heroically," she finished, drawing a sigh. "Thus proving yet again what a brave man I married."

Harry sighed, running a hand through his hair. Things had worked out but…he couldn't help but feel that something had changed, something he couldn't quite put a finger on at the moment but that he knew, given enough time, that he would figure out. He didn't have time to think of this now though, as Sirius had just come through the door with Madame Pomfrey. Something about the way Willow had looked at him earlier when he had woken up proved to him that whatever it was he was feeling was something that she had felt too. This, he thought as Madame Pomfrey bustled into the room, was something he would have to discuss with her later...


End file.
